


Falling To Juntauma

by lillilah



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-28
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2018-01-14 02:37:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 64,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1249606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lillilah/pseuds/lillilah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A routine salvage mission on a derelict freighter uncovers sinister genetic experiments.   While they investigate, Shepard and Vakarian find something more than friendship growing between them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. MSV Ontario

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Scans of Juntauma revealed a derelict freighter in mid-stage orbital decay. Your salvage team boarded the vessel and determined it had been attacked by raiders. There was little of value still on board, but the team did find a Prothean data disc._

Shepard shoved her helmet into to locker, glancing over her shoulder at Kaidan. They had managed to save Chairman Burns, but Kaidan had clearly been frustrated during the fire fight on the MSV Ontario. The look on his face as they waited for the Chairman's transport to show up told Shepard that he was angry. Not that she was blaming him. Shepard had seen enough of his migraines to get an idea of what the other L2s must have gone through, and no one was happy - except perhaps Wrex - that they had had to fight their way through the biotics on the Ontario. Still, Kaidan tended to get a little bit self-righteous when he was pissed, and she thought that perhaps they could avoid a blowup if she just got her gear stowed and headed up to the CIC.

"Commander...." Kaidan's voice trailed off behind her.

 _Fuck,_ she thought but turned around and looked up at him with as interested an expression as she could muster.

"Look, I just want to be clear.... You are going to make sure that Burns gets them their reparations, right?"

"You told them that I would. What do you think I'm going to do? Back out and make you look like a liar?"

Kaidan got that stony look on his face. "I'm not saying that you are going to. I just want to be sure. This is... important to me."

Shepard took a deep breath and chanted her new mantra in her head, _How can I stop Saren if I can't deal with this?_ She could handle this calmly. So, she nodded, looking thoughtful. "Sure, I can understand that. I give you my word that I'll follow through on this. Okay?"

Kaidan looked somewhat placated. "Okay," he said and headed back to his work station.

Shepard walked past him to her cabin. If she hadn't needed to change, she'd just have headed down to talk to Wrex or Ashley. However, the situation on the Ontario had been tense, and even though the material of her undersuit was supposed to deal with sweat, she always felt like she stank from tension after negotiations. It was so much easier to just shoot first, but she usually avoided taking the easy way.... Well, except with that guy - was his name Miguel? - on Eden Prime. When he started ranting, she'd knocked him out. It wasn't the most politically correct thing she'd ever done, and she felt a little guilty about it. However, there were times when even she lost patience.

Inside her cabin, as she stripped out of her armor, Shepard radioed up to Pressly. He could run routine scans of all the planets in the system. They had a handful of requests for assistance finding historical artifacts, along with minerals, missing relatives, scientists who had disappeared.... It was actually more than a handful, but Shepard tried not to throw her hands up and scream, "I have a job to do here!" whenever the Alliance came calling. _Besides_ , she thought as she pulled on a much more comfortable uniform, _Hackett isn't a bad guy, and it's hard as hell to tell him I'm too busy._


	2. Preparations

The Normandy had arrived in the Farinata System a little before midnight, and by the time the boarding party was back on the Normandy after securing the MSV Ontario, the day shift crew was waking up. Garrus had been working late on the Mako and had seen them come back. While he wasn't good at reading human faces, Lieutenant Alenko's scowl was an expression he was pretty clear on. The Lieutenant was good in a fight and was probably a good officer, but he was often critical of Shepard's decisions. She was willing to make deals, to bend the rules when she needed to, and Alenko didn't like it. The first time they had had it out, Garrus had been too shocked to even move. He had just stood there in the shuttle bay with his mouth open, while the Commander and Alenko's voices rose in volume until they were shouting at each other. Kaidan had thought that Shepard should have turned in Nassana Dantius to C-Sec. The Commander said that since Dantius's sister was already dead, there was nothing with which she could be charged. Admitting that you wanted your sister dead wasn't a crime. _Besides_ , Garrus thought, shaking his head, _Alenko had no idea how hard it would be for C-Sec to prosecute someone in Nassana's position, even if she had broken the law._ Since then, he had noticed that Shepard had gone out of her way to keep her cool with Alenko. Garrus admired her restraint, although on a Turian ship, Alenko would never have gotten away with second-guessing his commanding officer.

Garrus hadn't known what to expect when he met Shepard before she went to speak to the Council. She was short, with dark hair and eyes. He hadn't spent much time around humans, and he couldn't help but think of her as squishy and fragile. He had hoped the Council would listen to her and then put someone with experience in charge of tracking down Saren. Instead, they sent Shepard - so new to the Spectres that the guy in requisitions hadn't even known about her, and at her back, a team made up of whoever she could find to help. At first, he had thought it was ridiculous, but quickly he came to see his mistake. Shepard was damn good at what she did, and the team she had put together was far more adept than they seemed. Garrus flicked his mandibles in amusement. They were an unlikely bunch to save the galaxy from Saren, his Geth, and the mysterious Reapers.

His eyes were starting to get that dry itch that comes from too many hours staring at a monitor. Garrus thought it was about time to get some sleep when he heard the whir of the elevator. He looked up from his terminal by the Mako, watching Commander Shepard make her way across the cargo bay. Even in her armor, her movements were fluid and smooth. His pulse quickened as she approached him. He ignored it, just as he ignored the way her hair picked up the light.

"Garrus, you're awake. Good," she said. "We're going to check out an abandoned freighter orbiting Juntauma. It has probably already been stripped, but it looks like it's one of the original Kowloon class freighters, and I'd really like to get a chance to look around. Interested in coming along?"

With a rumbling laugh, Garrus said, "Commander, I didn't know you were interested in old ships... especially old freighters."

Shepard paused for a moment, not really sure what to say. She hadn't spent too much time around Garrus, and it was hard to read his expressions. The laugh, though, was clear enough. Generally, she was kind of reserved with people she didn't know, but Garrus seemed so eager and trusting. She winced, thinking about how she had lectured him on following the rules. It wasn't like she didn't bend the rules on occasion, and there had been times in the not too distant past when she had bitched about Alliance bureaucracy. The silence stretched until it became awkward, and Garrus's expression changed. Maybe he had noticed her discomfort. Wanting to make sure he didn't misinterpret it, Shepard decided to let down her shields a little.

"I grew up on ships. Hell," she said, the corners of her eyes wrinkling as she grinned, "I was born on a freighter. We moved from posting to posting every couple of years. I've always loved ships."

Shepard leaned towards Garrus, and his breath caught. She whispered, "When I was a little girl, I used to build model starships. I hung them all around my bunk. My favorite way to fall asleep was to watch them rocking to the pulse of the drive core." She leaned back and laughed. Garrus flared his mandibles. He knew some species had perfect memories, and at this moment, he envied them. He wished that he could save this feeling. As a realist, he knew that nothing lasted, but for this one moment, he was sharing a feeling so pure and honest - with a human, even! - that it drove back the darkness a little.

Standing, Shepard asked, "So, you coming?"

Garrus nodded.

"Then, I'll meet you at the airlock in 5 minutes," she said.

Garrus stood for a moment, looking at nothing. Here, on an Alliance ship, on a ridiculously understaffed and underfunded mission, with the weight of all those mysterious threats to the galaxy weighing on them, he had found something he had never expected. Their chances hadn't gotten any better. They hadn't uncovered any new information. Yet, he had found a single feather of hope.


	3. Moving Out

The Normandy's outer doors opened to reveal airlock opened to space. Shepard stepped forward, flanked by Vakarian and Mattocks. Shepard found it a bit disturbing looking right into the ship and remembered how upset Tali had been by the quiet onboard the Normandy. There are signs all around you on a ship that tell you that everything is working as it should be - the sound of the engines, the soft breath of air from the environmental system, doors sealed against the vacuum of space. And when something is out of place, even if it isn't a violent change, the wrongness of it can be enough to throw you off.

Pressly had said that there were two airlocks, fore and aft, which Shepard knew wasn't standard, especially in these older freighters. Plus, this one carried four pods instead of three. From the scans, it looked like they were all cargo pods. Someone had clearly put a lot of time and money into this ship. Her dad had some close friends from back in his military days who ran freighters, and Shepard couldn't help thinking of them as she stepped through the open airlock.

To her right, Mattocks twitched. The Corporal had come aboard to fill the hole left by Jenkins' death. He had only been out on a mission with Shepard once before - and the only danger they had been in that time was of being bored to death - but he struck her as a good soldier. Mattocks was a little older than Jenkins had been and more reserved. Shepard thought that he was the right man for the post. Someone too much like Jenkins would be easy to compare with him. Mattocks was noticeably taller, heavier, with straight, dark hair that was just a little longer than regulation. His twitch seemed odd, and Shepard keyed her comm, "Corporal, you see something?"

"No, ma'am. It's just that I remembered walking into a derelict freighter a lot like this about two years ago. It was pretty routine for us to check out any wreck we found, so maybe we had gotten a little sloppy. Everything went fine until we got to one of the cargo pods that had a stuck door. No EM signatures, no obvious tripwires, so we pried it open, and then ping ping ping ping - there's shrapnel flying everywhere. We lost two guys on the spot, including our commanding officer."

"What did you do?" Garrus asked.

"One guy had taken a couple of nasty hits but was still alive, so we stayed with him until the support team could pull him and the other two out. Then, the two of us who were left searched the pod. There were so many booby traps. It took us four hours, checking every centimeter before we moved forward, but finally we cleared them all - and found a pretty impressive stash of red sand and illegal weapons."

Shepard nodded. A floating hulk in space wasn't a bad place to hide contraband, but it wasn't that common a tactic either. The downside was that anyone could wander by and find it, a passing asteroid could smash it, or some little unexpected event could cause gravity to tug at the wreck in a way that caused it to head down into the atmosphere. Shepherd cleared her thoughts and began a standard search pattern. The first cargo pod was one of the big, open kind. The airlock opened into the middle of it. The pod was completely dark, and since there was no cover to speak of, their lights made them perfect targets. She could see that Garrus was still checking for life signs and energy signatures, so as long as they were alone here, there seemed no point in relying too much on stealth. Mattocks was probably right that they would be in more danger from booby traps. With that in mind, Shepard slapped a sticky-glow on the wall, as high up as she could reach. The ball of reddish light lit enough of the area around them that they could turn off their weapon-mounted lights. _If someone_ is _here_ , Shepard thought, _at least now the team wouldn't be quite so obvious._ In the red light, they faded somewhat into the gloom.

Garrus made a noise that sounded through her headset like a chuckle and said, "If you'd like those to be up where they can do some good, I can place them."

"Are you calling me short?" Shepard responded with a smirk he couldn't see.

"Well...." Garrus replied, but she had already unclipped the dispenser from her side and was handing it to him.

They fell into the routine of searching the rest of the room, which was littered with empty crates, fragments of whatever cargo the freighter had been hauling, plus some personal items and trash. Shepard worried about Garrus's teasing. She had no idea if he knew where the line between "funny" and "annoying" was. She had been in far too many situations with guys who couldn't tell when the joke had gone too far. Sometimes it was just that they were clueless. Sometimes, they were trying to prove something. And that was with humans. What if turians had different acceptable levels of teasing? Hopefully, Garrus had the sense to know where the line was. If not... well, she would point it out.

The next time she heard the hiss of an open mic, she tensed a little, wondering what Garrus would say. His voice, rich with subharmonics, began, "Back when I was in the military, I was a scout. Our ship was sent to investigate reports of slavers holding a group of kids to be sold as slaves on a barely habitable rock just on the border of Turian space. When we got there, we found that a group of mercs had arrived just ahead of us."

As his story unwound, Shepard relaxed. Clearly, Vakarian knew exactly where the line was. She liked someone who wasn't afraid to tease but could still keep things calm and professional, and as she laughed at his dry, sometimes self-deprecating humor, Shepard couldn't help but be glad that he was on her team.

  


Garrus could barely remember where he was in the story. What had he been thinking? He had teased his commanding officer about her height. And then, after she had given him the little dispenser, he had worried that perhaps she would think he was gloating. He had scrambled for something to say and had pulled out this story from the days when he was in the military. Everyone could appreciate a good story about fighting slavers, right? Now, Garrus could only hope that Shepard would wait to chew him out until they were alone. Mattocks surely knew he had screwed up, but Garrus didn't need to be dressed down in front of him.

They finished their survey of the room, finding nothing, but at least making damn sure there was nothing to find. Garrus wrapped up his story, "...and the leader of the mercs went flying across the room. Lk'tia helped him up, and he said to her, 'I'm glad I didn't have to ask a third time.'"

Shepard's laughter filled his helmet. He could see Mattocks shaking too. That had gone better than planned. After a moment, Shepard said, "Okay, let's head through the hatch to the next compartment, but - as the Corporal reminded us - we play this smart."


	4. The Search

After scanning the hatch and taking all reasonable precautions, Garrus triggered the electronic locking mechanism with his omnitool and then stepped back. The omnitool reported back that the lock had opened, but nothing else happened.

"Mattocks," Shepard said, "Why don't you give it a little push?"

An aura surrounded Mattocks briefly, as his biotics flared to life. The bluish light shot forward, and the hatch door swung open. The hallway beyond was dark. No one moved for a moment, waiting. Shepard stepped over and pushed the hatch all the way open. Her pistol was focused on the hallway. Garrus and Mattocks moved up and had taken up positions behind her. Shepard's omnitool was on continuous scan, and while it wouldn't pick up everything, she knew that it would catch any electrical activity. Lacking atmosphere, there was nothing to carry any particles to her omnitool, though, so there was no way she could scan for anything airborne. Unfortunately. Or was there? Shepard bent down and focused the spectrometer on her omnitool on a patch of dust on the floor.

"I'm going to check the dust here for explosives residue," she said to the others. After a second, the report came back. The dust didn't contain any explosives, although there were chemicals that she wouldn't have expected. Still, after a couple more patches came back clean, she was a little more reassured. They moved forward into the hallway.

The hallway was long, bisecting the cargo pod. Pods generally were divided like this, although she knew that occasionally smugglers did interesting things with the interiors of pods to create a little extra space that no one would even think to search. About eight meters in, they came to the doors to the pods themselves. As before, they were hatches, which made sense for such an old ship. Luckily, they both opened inwards. The benefit was that explosives most likely wouldn't be placed behind the doors, the hatch would provide a lot of cover. They checked the port side first, scanning the hatch. They didn't see anything, so after taking cover again, Garrus triggered the electronic lock. Nothing.

"You need some help there, big guy?" Shepard asked. She brought her omnitool up, but even feeding the lock power remotely, it wouldn't open. She turned and scanned the other hatch. It came back clean, so she triggered the lock from cover. It opened easily. 

"Another push, Mattocks," she said, her voice tenser now.

"Are you wondering why a ship with airlocks open to space has all of its interior hatches locked? And why the doors are all in such good condition?" Garrus asked.

"Yes," she replied, as the door swung open. "Mattocks, you stay here and guard this hatchway. I don't want anything coming out of those doors when our backs are turned. Garrus and I will do a sweep of this room."

As she stepped in, Shepard's comm hissed to life with Joker's voice, "Commander, it is probably nothing, but we've got a ship on scanners entering the system, and it looks like it's heading our way. It will probably take about 20 minutes to get to Juntauma, if it is even coming here. I'm only letting you know because of the Alliance reports of suspicious ships in the area."

"Thanks, Joker. Keep me updated. Also, have Tali give me her best guess as to how long this ship has been in orbit and how long until its orbit decays. Something here seems out of place, and it's bugging me."

The search of the room, which was again mostly empty, revealed nothing of interest. Shepard was rapidly becoming less enthralled with her memory lane tour of the old freighter. With Mattocks on their six, the trio made their way towards the door at the end of the hall. There was no cover, and the door opened towards them. As they approached, their radiation sensors lit up almost in unison. Shepard and Mattocks stepped back, as Garrus continued forward.

"Garrus, what are you doing?" Shepard said. She hadn't been able to afford hazard seals for the crews' armor, and she knew that Garrus couldn't take too many rads before he was in danger. Maybe it was time to bump those seals up a little higher on the "to buy" list.

"I'm turian, Shepard. Give me a second," Garrus said. "I've seen something like this before...."

There were times when Shepard had to give orders that put members of her crew in danger. That responsibility came with command, but it wasn't something that she took lightly. Here, on a derelict ship with most likely nothing of value to be found, Shepard saw no reason to risk Vakarian's life. He had proven himself a valuable member of the crew, and also... she liked him. Yes, as a turian, he could withstand some radiation, but the meter on his radiation sensor was heading up quickly into a dangerous area. Garrus worked with flying fingers at his omnitool, but as the seconds ticked by, she decided that it was enough. She moved her chin to activate the radio, when she saw him stop working and take a step away from the door.

"Got it!" he said, triumph and satisfaction clear in his voice. The other notes - the subharmonics - she couldn't place. "When I started at C-Sec, I worked for a little while in customs. We scanned a _lot_ of cargo, but there was so much of it that we couldn't search every container. Every once in a while, a container that was marked radioactive would go through. We made sure that it didn't leak more than the allowed amount of radiation, and we sent it out pretty quickly. Of course, C-Sec was almost entirely turians then, and a little radiation wasn't a problem. Still, it wasn't something you wanted on the station for any longer than it had to be. Well, about a month after I got there, one of the older guys came in with a radiation suit. I thought he was crazy, but he told me he had a feeling about some of the radioactive cargo that had been through. More of the crates had passed through Omega than usual, and with the radiation shielding, we couldn't scan them beyond checking how much radiation they were putting out. The next time one of those containers came in, he put on the suit and opened the container. I expected a huge radiation spike, but that wasn't what happened. The setup was ingenious really. They had built the containers so that there was a radioactive layer of material near the surface and a lot of shielding on the inside. And the inside... it was packed full of illegal weapons tech, plus some really toxic chemicals that are illegal all over Council space.... We stopped about a dozen containers, but at least as many had already gotten past us."

He walked back over to the door, "What we have here is something much more clever. It isn't radioactive, but it trips sensors and interferes with electronics in the same way. Whoever set up this trick spent a lot of time and money on it to make sure that no one would want to go through that door. We're not talking raiders here, Shepard. I'd bet a month's pay that there is more than red sand and guns behind that door."


	5. Behind The Door

Shepard looked at the hatch down the hall behind them and frowned. She keyed her mic. "I hate to leave an unsearched room at our backs, but I have a bad feeling about this. I want to know what is on the other side of that door before the inbound ship arrives... if it is coming here. Garrus... the lock."

He nodded and brought up his omnitool. Shepard and Mattocks stepped back, and Shepard said, "Mattocks, you watch our exit route. I don't want any surprises."

"Yes, ma'am," he replied.

Garrus's voice cut in. "Lock is open. I'm going to give the door a pull."

Shepard tensed. The door swung towards them. A wash of greenish light fell over Garrus, and as she looked past him, Shepard gasped. The ship wasn't a derelict after all.

Garrus stepped into the room. Shepard switched her mic to voice activated and said, "Garrus, stay in formation." At the same time, she heard the hiss of an incoming transmission.

"Shepard, this is Tali." The Quarian seemed hesitant, and Shepard wondered what was bothering her. "There is no way that the ship you are on could have been in orbit for more than 30 standard days. It is already in mid-stage orbital decay. I've run my calculations three times now, and they all say the same thing."

"So, what's the problem?" Shepard asked.

"Well, I looked back at some Quarian reports about this system, and the ship was here at least a year ago. A Quarian on her pilgrimage found the ship, but she reported a large amount of radiation coming from one of the compartments. I couldn't find any more information, so I assume that the ship was considered too dangerous to salvage. I think...."

"Sorry to interrupt, Commander," Joker broke in, "but we have a second ship entering the system. It also seems to be heading for us, and that first ship has an ETA of seven minutes."

"Joker, have Willams, Alenko and Wrex board the freighter and remove the sticky-glows from the first compartment. They are to take cover in the open section of the second compartment and await word from me. As soon as they have disembarked, I want you to back off far enough that the Normady won't be spotted, but no so far that you can't get to us if there is trouble."

"Roger, Commander."

"Tali, I want you to go over the scans of the freighter and see if you can figure out what is going on. I'm sending the readings from my omnitool over. We're heading into the next room, which appears to be shielded. I'll contact you for an update before that ship arrives. Shepard out.

"Now, Garrus," Shepard said, moving up to stand next to him, "What have we got?"

  

The light in the room was greenish, coming from some kind of tank that was partially obscured by a support column. Garrus could hear Shepard talking to Tali. He really wanted to get a better look at the tank. However, he had orders, and even though he wasn't always a "by the book" kind of guy, he felt like Shepard's orders were... well, sacred. It wasn't that he was afraid to cross her... although he would have had to think long and hard before putting his life in that kind of danger. No, it was that she wasn't just squawking out bullshit orders to hear her own voice or to preen in the glow of power. She had a reason, and he respected that. Plus, she was usually right.

His attention was drawn by the tables of electronics around the room. There was what looked like a mainframe setup around one of the supports, and he wondered if they were using the column to help with cooling somehow. He brought his omnitool up and started to scan when he realized that Shepard was talking to him. Her tone was clipped and precise. He struggled to catch up.

"An undivided cargo pod converted to some kind of a lab. The whole pod has been shielded to prevent scans from penetrating", he said. The scan finished on his omnitool, and he continued, "There are some very strange life signs coming from that tank, there's a mainframe over there by the column, plus of course, a whole lot of equipment that's above my pay grade."

  


Shepard moved further into the room with Garrus on her three and Mattocks holding back to cover the exit. "Okay, we've got five minutes, so I want you to.... What the... It looks turian." Shepard couldn't look away from the figure in the tank. It was turian mostly, but its head had been modified... deconstructed... mutilated.... Shepard could feel panic starting to prick at her neck.

"Garrus, I want you to see what you can get out of the computer. We don't have much time. I'm going to do some scans."

Shepard set her omnitool to continuous scanning, trying to wring all the information she could out of this place in the short amount of time they had. Who knows what would happen when... if the other ships docked. She scanned the tank, the electronics, and the door opposite the one from which they had entered. That door was locked, like the others. While it might be in good shape, these old freighter hatch locks were pretty finicky. As a teenager, she had disabled more than one to buy herself a couple of hours of privacy. The trick was that you just needed to knock the locking mechanism out of alignment. Shepard took out her knife and inserted it through a gap between the housing of the lock and the door. She wiggled the knife around, pounded on the top of the housing a few times, and felt something give a little. She pulled her knife out, and her omnitool confirmed that the lock wouldn't open from the other side.

Her gaze slipped back to Garrus, working on the mainframe. He was all calm efficiency. Shepard supposed that Garrus had seen all kinds of terrible things in his time at C-Sec. Even though he seemed to have a lot of youthful idealism, he was only a couple of years younger than she was. Still plenty of time to witness the horrors that sentient races inflict on each other. She wondered how he was holding up under that calm efficiency. Then she realized that she wanted him to be strong, to stand up to all the nightmares right next to her. It was a selfish thought, and she pushed it away. Dealing with the nightmares was her job. She usually didn't even consider trying to dump that on someone else.

"Commander," Mattocks said, "Alenko and his squad have finished with the first pod and are heading to cover in the second pod."

"Good," Shepard said. "Tell him to close and lock all the hatches and wait until I signal. We have two minutes. I saw some kind of crate over there that we might be able to use as cover. I want to find out as much as we can before we take them down. Lock the hatch and then come give me a hand."

Shepard moved toward a hulking shape in the corner of the room opposite the tank. It was so dark that she thought it was a crate, but as she got closer, she realized that it was an airlock. She didn't have time to do a scan, so she just stepped up and powered it on. The control panel glowed, and Shepard was relieved that it seemed to use the standard airlock protocols. She punched a few keys and the door hissed open.

"Garrus! Time to go!" she called. He shut down the terminal he was working on. He headed towards her at a trot, dodging tables of electronics, and meeting up with Mattocks just outside the airlock door. "In we go," Shepard said, and they stepped into the airlock.


	6. Pressurized

The airlock cycled. Shepard hoped that they weren't stepping into a trap, as the door leading to the other side of the airlock was opaque. _How much more could they be hiding? Wasn't the mutilated turian in the tank enough?_ , Shepard thought. Even as she thought it, she tried to stifle the thought. She knew better than to ask if things could get any worse. As the door slid open, she hoped that she hadn't jinxed them, hadn't pushed her luck a little too far.

The room had a little light - enough at least so that they didn't need to turn on their flashlights just yet. Her heads-up display told her what she had already guessed - there was atmosphere in this room, and it appeared to be breathable by humans. They wouldn't have put in an airlock if there wasn't some kind of atmosphere. She stepped forward, crouching into cover, set a little signal booster on the wall, then keyed her radio to signal the Normandy.

"Joker, do you read me?"

"Sure do, Commander. But you're a little weak. We've moved off from the freighter and are playing quiet. We'll have to stop transmitting soon if we want to stay hidden. The closer ship is decelerating. That one is definitely headed to you."

"Roger. Tali? Got anything?"

"From the sample you sent me, I'd say based on the residues that a lot of heavily armed people have been through there, as well as scientists doing illegal genetics or maybe biotics experiments. I couldn't find any signs from our scans of functioning onboard propulsion systems, and I did see some non-standard clamps around the airlock. So, I think that someone tows her to a slightly higher orbit every couple weeks."

"You're amazing, Tali. Shepard out."

Shepard switched her radio to short range and signaled Kaidan. "Lieutenant, you there?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"We're in a shielded room across from you. Stay put until I signal you, then I want you to come out with weapons drawn. Expect armed guards. If you have to shoot, try to disable rather than kill. I want answers."

"Aye, ma'am."

Shepard was so thankful that Kaidan saved his arguments for after the mission. She signaled to Vakarian and Mattocks, then stood up and moved into the room. Like the other shielded room, this had workstations, electronics.... but it also had lifesigns. They moved up past a bunch of bulky equipment until they could get a clear view. There dim light was coming from the figures... or at least the pods they were encased in. There were three turians, one to a pod. The one of the far left was dead, and the lifesigns of the second were fading. All were hooked up to tubes and wires, with obvious restraints.

"Vakarian, Mattocks, I want you to get the lock on the hatch leading to the hallway open. I don't care how you do it, but I want it done. There is no way we are going to get the drop on them if we have to wait for the airlock to cycle."

As they went to work, Shepard approached the turian in the pod. At first, she wasn't sure if he was conscious, but then she noticed that his eyes were open and following her. She raised her hands, briefly, to show that she wasn't going to hurt him, and then switched her mike to the external speaker.

"I'm with the Alliance. We don't have much time. Can you tell me what is going on here?"

The turian seemed to relax a little, then his body started to tremble. The trembling got worse, and Shepard started up her omnitool, wondering how she was going to help him if he was having some kind of seizure. However, as he balled his hands into fists, his eyes focused on her, and he started to speak.

"I was Aktus. In the Blue Suns. Disobeyed a stupid order. Ended up here," he gasped for breath. "Now, Aktus is gone."

"Aktus," Shepard said, maintaining eye contact and doing her best to sound calm, "What did they do to you? Who is running this place?"

Aktus had calmed for a moment after speaking, but now the shaking was back. "Aktus is gone. They pulled out my mind. Put in burning red worms to eat what was left. To make me do things. The worms killed Ranj and Venor. But they won't kill me. They just eat and eat and eat and eat...."

There was a burst of light from where Garrus and Mattocks were working on the door. Shepard turned to look at them, and Aktus twitched towards her, unable to move very far but straining against the tubes, wires and restraints in an effort to close the distance.

"Please," he gasped, "kill me."

The words tangled in her chest, and Shepard felt Aktus's dispair. So much of her life had been about the struggle to survive that Shepard had thought for a long time that suicide, that not wanting to live, was weakness. But the husks and the people on Feros had shown her that there worse things than death. Was Fai Dan weak? Shepard thought his death was tragic and a terrible loss, but she respected the strength it took for him to overcome the Thorian's control.

"Aktus, who did this to you?" Shepard pleaded.

The turian tried to twist away from the wires. Now, his whole body really was shaking. Wide, desperate eyes focused on her, and Aktus let out a wail. Garrus looked up from his work. She didn't know what he heard in Aktus's voice. Was she missing information that would make her decision easier? There was something inky and slick about the vibe Shepard got from Aktus. Something that told her in her gut that he was ... infected, that he couldn't be saved.

A tremor shook the pod. Shepard guessed that it was a ship docking. Her time was up. Looking at Vakarian and Mattocks, she could see from their postures that they were finishing up with their work. She pulled a blade from her leg sheath and stepped up onto the lip of the pod. Looking into Aktus's eyes, she said, "It will be so quick that you won't have time to feel it."

He looked back at her for a moment and nodded. His shaking had stopped. He whispered, "Look under the tank." Then, another tremor shook the pod. Shepard had been taught to kill. She didn't enjoy it, but she knew what she was doing. It took just one plunge of her knife, and Aktus was dead. As she drew the knife out, she saw red ... blood? Something was distinctly wrong - well, more wrong - here, as turians had dark blue blood. There was nothing she could do now, but maybe the blood on the knife would be enough for them to make some educated guesses later. She shoved it back into the sheath. She turned towards the other pods, but the other turian was already dead. Her only consolation was that the people responsible for this were heading her way. Shepard was going to make damn sure they wouldn't be leaving.


	7. Face To Face

Hunkered down in cover behind a sturdy-looking partition, Shepard could just make out Vakarian and Mattocks crouching next to her in the dimly lit room. They were keeping radio silence now, not wanting to tip their hand. Shepard wasn't a big fan of waiting, especially when waiting involved looking at the bodies of test subjects that she couldn't save. She could use her anger when she was fighting, but right now it just burned in her chest. She saw Garrus's omnitool glow to life, and a moment later he looked up, caught her eye and nodded.

 

Garrus felt like an idiot for not thinking of the workaround earlier, but at least he had come up with the idea in time for it to be helpful. Whoever was running this lab knew what they were doing, but his time in C-Sec had taught him a lot. He had almost pinned down the signal, and then they would be able listen in on the other group's communications. The signal sputtered to life, a little tinny with some strange echoes from his hack, but nevertheless it worked. His omnitool detected their language as a human dialect, so that answered one question. Garrus fed the signal to Shepard's omnitool through a narrowband signal.

"What's the hold up at the door?"

"Lock's jammed."

"What do you mean jammed?"

"I mean that it isn't opening. Jammed. It is common with these old freighters. You were the one who wanted to keep the original locks. We're going to have to either send someone around through the other airlock to fix this hatch, or we are going to have to use the other airlock ourselves."

"All the locks have been cycled, and now this. The freighter is compromised."

Garrus felt his throat constrict. They had blown it. There were ways to tell if an electronic hatch lock had been opened, and he hadn't been cautious enough. The lock to the lab, the one with the fake radiation signature, had put him on alert, so he had powered it externally and tried a couple of other tricks too. Before that, though, he hadn't been so careful, despite Shepard's warning, and now they had lost their chance. Garrus felt Shepard shift beside him and knew that she must be thinking the same thing. A few different escape plans came into his head, in case the other ship fired on the freighter, but an exasperated sigh cut off his thoughts.

"I didn't say that. I said that the two interior hatches had been unlocked, but that the lab lock seemed okay. The lock on this hatch has definitely not been opened, although clearly there is a mechanical problem. I told you to put in better passive sensors, but you didn't want to, so don't get your nethers in a knot now. The only ship on sensors is the one we are expecting, and it isn't like the Alliance is going to drop off a squad and pull back to the edge of the solar system. We could, of course, just cut our way in."

Huffing out his breath, Garrus relaxed a little. Shepard shifted her weight again, and he wondered if this jammed lock was her doing. He'd been working on the mainframe and hadn't had time to watch her, although the idea of just watching her on the battlefield held a certain appeal. Lithe body which looked good even in armor, Shepard was truly in her element when facing down an enemy. She was all speed and precision, even if the pink and white armor she sometimes wore made her look like a character from a children's show.... There was one vid he used to love about a good looking officer and her squad, who were always skirting the regs. Garrus's mandibles drew apart as he enjoyed this image. He stiffened. Now was not the time to be daydreaming about his commanding officer. Spirits, no time was, really. He was being an idiot, and it was not a personality trait he intended to cultivate. He pushed the thoughts away and focused on the present.

The group, who he was pretty sure were the mad scientists running this operation, had decided to send a shuttle with a full security team and someone who could repair the lock. It sounded like the guy who complained about the old locks was being sent as the repairman. Garrus thought he would be useful if captured, since he clearly had been in on the project from the beginning and didn't like the person in charge. Most of the security detail was going to hang around the airlock to meet the other ship that was coming in. They hadn't come right out and said it, but their distrust and concern about cargo led him to think that the second ship was slavers. He wondered if the slavers were going to get paid or just "dealt with". It seemed more likely that mad scientists would want to keep their secret freighter... well, secret. However, slavers knew that they were dealing with shady scumbags. If he had enough warning, maybe he could use this to their advantage.

They crouched and waited. Shepard moved a little, maybe uncomfortable, although there was clearly a lot more of Garrus that needed to squeeze down behind the partition than of Shepard. On the other hand, his legs bent in a much better way for this. He thought that human legs really weren't very good for balancing, in general, and for any length of time.... His eyes moved up from her legs over her nicely supportive waist and up to her face. She was looking in the direction of the pod again. Shepard had heard some of the Turian's wail, but he doubted that she heard or understood all of it. The horror, the misery, the wrongness... Garrus knew that Shepard had done the right thing, but she might not. His desire to tell her - comfort her - warred with his common sense. Common sense finally won out, but he was getting annoyed with the battle.

 

They sat in silence, waiting for the technician and security detail to dock at the aft airlock. Garrus's quick thinking had really given them some great intel. If he was this useful, maybe she should take him on every mission. 

Shepard glanced again at the pod that held Aktus's dead body. Should she have tried to save him? She didn't know. Sometimes, you made a call in the moment, and it was the wrong one. Now, here, she just didn't know. But, the time for that was when they were safe. Right now, her mission was to get something solid on the unknown group conducting these experiments. Capturing the tech they were sending seemed like the best plan. A very brief burst of text would be hidden by all the other electrical sources in the room, so Shepard set her omnitool on narrow beam and slid a little closer to Garrus. She gestured to his omnitool and then typed out a few instructions, sending them with a quick stroke. He read them over and nodded, a concerned look in his eyes.

Shepard signaled to Mattocks to follow and then slid past the divider. Airlocks didn't use much power, and she needed to be in position with Mattocks in the tank room when the technician entered. She triggered the airlock. Garrus was her backup. If there was any sign that the rest of the security team was moving to the lab, he would open the hatch - using whatever they had rigged up - then Wrex, Alenko, and Williams would join in to take out the guards. Shepard had a plan and a backup plan. Unfortunately, when things went sideways - and didn't they always - it was usually in a way no one could predict.

The airlock finished its cycle, and Shepard and Mattocks moved out into the room. The tinny signal crackled in her ear, "We've docked. Everything looks normal. We're heading in."

To get to the jammed hatch, the enemy squad would have to make its way past tables of components and skirt one of the support columns. She'd put Mattocks in the dark corner by the airlock, while she would be behind the column. A little distraction, a quick grab, and some crossfire would get the job done. Shepard signaled Mattocks into the corner and then headed to the column. She could feel the heavy tread of boots on the deck plating. She slid around the support column, pointedly not looking at the remains of the Turian in the tank. She couldn't see Mattocks in his corner, which was good. Crouching down, she looked around the column until she could just see the edge of the door. Then, she waited. The seconds crawled by. Her omnitool registered an electrical spike, and then the door started to move.

The hatch door swung open, and five figures entered. Three were big, wearing battle-weary armor, one kept to the side and wore medium armor with what looked like a hastily removed Blue Suns logo, and in amongst them was a guy in light-weight gray armor from Aldrin Labs. Shepard was pretty sure that Kaidan was wearing something very similar. She knew because she had bought it less than 24 hours before. The squad didn't seem to detect any problems. They clustered at the door for a moment, and then started to squeeze between the tables single file. The three big guys were at the back. "Mr. Light Armor" was in front of them. "Ex Blue Suns" led the group. Shepard waited for a second... two... and then when the three big guys reached a bottleneck where they had to turn to get to the hatch, she signaled. Mattock's biotics flaired to life and tables of components filled the air. Shepard stood up and stepped forward to reach the leader. She zapped him with an overload delivered point blank to his helmet, which thanks to a little upgrade of hers would fry all of his armor's onboard systems and keep him immobile for at least 30 seconds. It wasn't a trick she got to use very often, unfortunately. With a smooth twist, she turned to the guy in light armor, who she guessed was the tech. He was distracted by the flying components and hadn't spotted her. Shepard took the opportunity to slam the butt of her pistol into the back of his head. He went down, and she wrapped herself around him as he fell, dragging him behind the column. In her peripheral vision - mercifully and finally unclouded by fog after yet another helmet upgrade and a really difficult to find replacement faceplate - she saw the three big guys crumple. Now, she just needed to finish securing the tech.

Shepard paused for a second as the radio crackled to life. "Docking complete," a male voice said. That meant the slavers - well, probably slavers - would be on board soon. She was reaching down to disable the tech's armor, when she felt him twitch.

The radio crackled, and she hit him with the overload. Even as it happened, she knew she was too late. What she heard was mostly static, but Shepard was almost positive that she also heard the word "compromised". She wondered for the space of three heartbeats if the enemy had heard it too, even as she started moving with the tech towards Mattocks.

"It's a double cross," a voice from the radio said. "Team A, what's your status? Team A? Team A isn't responding. Team B, secure the Batarian ship. They might not know that we're on to them, so if you can get on board without drawing attention, do it. Their cargo will be useful for future projects. The lab ship is compromised."

In the silence, Shepard felt marginally less like an idiot. The bad guys thought the slavers had attacked them. She was on the verge of thinking that maybe this would be to her advantage, when she felt the rumble of engines through the deck plates. "Fuck," she muttered to herself. And then, the lights came on.

Shepard was halfway across the room, heading towards Mattocks with the tech, and then suddenly the lights blazed on. She had the ridiculous urge to scuttle under a table. Instead, she engaged the power servos in her armor and tossed the tech to Mattocks. She drew her sidearm and moved towards the door, signaling Mattocks to fall in behind her. A blinking light drew her attention, just as she started to turn her head. Looking back, she could see the mainframe was being accessed. A quick scan with her omnitool showed that the isolation field was inactive, and the mainframe's data was being downloaded. She sent an overload at it.

"The mainframe's not responding." Shepard recognized the voice now as the leader of the enemy ship.

"...Team B. We're falling back. Batarians have boarded the lab ship."

"We're blowing the hatch. Hold your ground. Reinforcements will be there in less than a minute."

"Oh, fuck!" Shepard blurted and then dove past the guy in the Blue Suns' armor into the space between the base of the tank and the support column. His armor was just starting to come back online, when a massive explosion blew the hatch apart. Shrapnel pulverized the tank above her, leaving trails of droplets behind like the tails of shooting stars. The droplets behind the merc were red.

Boots pounded past her, moving in the loping run of zero G. "Get the data off that mainframe, tech! You have less than two minutes."

The vibration of footfalls lessened. Shepard looked up to see a figure bending over the mainframe. Suddenly, a shape loomed behind him and raised a rifle. Mattocks dropped the new guy with the rifle butt and then filled the mainframe full of holes. Shepard pushed herself to her feet and was just about to take a little look-see through the now opened airlock, when she remembered that Aktus had mentioned the base of the tank. She ran her hand along the paneling, but it was seamless. She moved around to the side and felt just the tiniest vibration. She pushed a little, and a section of the base slid open. Inside, a small silver sphere gleamed. It looked like a bigger version of the trinket that the Consort had given her. Shepard picked it up and sealed it into a pouch.

The radio was a cacophony of chatter. Mattock's calm voice came through on her secured channel. "The package is secured in the airlock. I'm on your six." Shepard stepped forward, moving towards the ragged hole that used to be a hatch. Behind her, an explosion told her that Garrus had probably opened the door. She heard a terse acknowledgement from Kaiden. Ahead of her, she could see the other ship's airlock. The hole left by the explosion was so large that she didn't have to break her stride as she went through it. She figured that with all the chaos, the enemy ship may well have left their airlock unattended. She stepped over the threshold. A clunk beneath her feet was the only warning she had as the enemy ship started to separate from the freighter and the door slid down behind her.

 

Garrus counted to three after the mad scientists' squad ordered the tech to get the data from the mainframe, and then he triggered the explosives. The atmosphere tore out through the hole, propelling the newly removed section of wall before it. Garrus hoped it took some of the squad on the other side with it. Shepard had wanted the hatch open, and this was as close as they were going to get. Okay, it was more a gaping hole than a hatch, but it was open. He rose a little from cover between a partition and the wall and signaled Kaidan. The response was swift and efficient. _At least he's professional when we're in combat_ , Garrus thought. He rose and moved to back up Kaidan's squad, when Shepard's voice came in over their secure channel.

"Mattocks, you are responsible for getting that tech to the Normandy. Understood? Everyone else, I ... have a bit of a situation. I'm in the airlock of the enemy vessel, and it has disengaged from the freighter. Joker, do you read me? Do not let this ship leave the system."

Garrus sprinted out through the hole into the hallway. It was partially blocked by both metal and bodies. He pushed off and dove over the mess, towards the lab door. He caught the edge of the hatch and was getting his boots back on the floor when he tuned back in to the argument between Joker and Shepard. She couldn't get the airlock door open, and Joker refused to fire on the ship while she was on it. It also seemed that the mad scientists had pushed the freighter towards Juntauma's atmosphere, and it was starting to burn up. He thought of her, when she was just tiny woman looking up at him as he told her he thought Saren was dirty, and then he found himself staring through a jagged hole at a ship that was less than ten meters away. The ship was dark and mottled - probably hard to pick out against the background of space but menacing partially silhouetted against Juntauma's atmosphere.

Bringing up his omnitool, Garrus tried to access the ship's airlock. Too far away. He opened a couple of panels, fingers shaking with haste. There it was! Old freighters always had tethers inside their airlocks. It made things a lot easier when you needed to get outside quickly to do an emergency repair. He chose the bulkiest bundle - hoping that it was the longest - snapped one end to a ring in the airlock, the other to his armor, and jumped. His momentum carried him out towards the looming black ship. He slowed himself as best he could holding the tether to avoid having the insanity of zero G momentum changes take over. At the end of the tether, he activated his omnitool. He was about halfway to the ship, but it still wasn't far enough. For a second he felt panic rise in his chest, but then he saw a bridging signal activate. Shepard! She had routed his signal through her omnitool, giving him access. He could see some of the avenues that she had tried, weeding out dead ends for him. There was a security hole here... but that didn't work. He was about to try a brute-force approach to power the door open, when he saw that she had already tried that. His armor was really starting to heat up. He looked back and saw the Batarian ship docked with the freighter, locked together as they plunged into the atmosphere.

Desperate, Garrus's fingers flew to his omnitool. He had a little program that he'd picked up from Harkin at C-Sec when they had worked together on a bust. Harkin disgusted him, but this time... done! The door of the other ship opened, as it started to accelerate. Shepard launched herself out of the airlock, missing Garrus's outstretched hand but catching the toe of his armor with her leg. The impact sent them spinning. Garrus looked down. Shepard had managed to wrap her arm around his leg. He began hauling them as quickly as he could towards the freighter. A flash in his peripheral vision made him look back, and behind them, the Normandy was firing on the mad scientists' smaller ship.

"Commander, they aren't standing down, but they do seem to be shifting posture. I have a bad feeling about this."

"This is Shepard. Evacuate the freighter now! Now!"

They reached the airlock, and Shepard said, "Garrus, you know what we have to do."

"Yeah," he said, voice rich with subharmonics. Then he unlatched the tether, they put their feet on the edge of the ship, and the two jumped with all their strength away from Juntauma.

 

Shepard's worst nightmares during training were after zero G boot camp. She'd gone in just fine, and she'd completed the training with no problems. However, every night for the next month, she had dreamed of falling, of burning up like a meteorite streaking across an alien sky. The dreams had eventually faded, but the dread still haunted her every time she was in zero G. She felt like an idiot, but as they sped away from the ship, Shepard couldn't help tightening her grip on Garrus. She looked up at him, and the look in his eyes as he looked back at her was so gentle that she forgot her fear for a moment. And then, his eyes focused behind her, opening wide. In his faceplate, she watched the explosion of the freighter, still locked to the Batarian ship. Her gut twisted. _Ash? Kaidan? Oh, please...._

Before she had a chance to make her wish, Joker's voice spoke in her ear, "Commander, Tali's detected a huge energy spike coming from that ship. Your pick up is going to be a bit rough. In 5... 4... 3..."

Garrus wrapped his arms around her head. Then, she was slammed into a wall and fell into darkness.


	8. Recovery

Shepard's scream tore her out of the dream. She had been falling, burning up in the planet's atmosphere, and then she was in the Normandy's Med Bay. She was sitting up, looking at a very startled Dr. Chakwas.

"You know," she said, "You could have just told me that you were awake."

"We were falling... Juntauma..." Shepard's memories fell back into place, and she asked, "Kaidan's squad? Did they make it? And Garrus?"

A weak cough from a nearby bed drew Shepard's attention. "I'm fine... or at least I will be when I recover from your amazing sonic attack. How you could have had a punctured lung so recently and still make that noise, I'll never understand. And Kaidan's squad, along with Mattocks, found the shuttle and made it out. The tech... well, they have his body."

Dr. Chakwas said, "I'm still analyzing what poison they used, but it seems that he had a capsule implanted in his tongue. I expect that he died almost instantly."

Once she knew that her crew safe, Shepard's eyes closed. She wanted to find out how long she had been asleep, but her mouth wasn't working. And the bed was so warm. Garrus's voice rumbled nearby, but she couldn't catch the words as she drifted off.

 

For a few days after she was released from the Med Bay, Shepard hadn't said much to him beyond casual greetings and requests for updates, as she passed through the cargo hold. She'd slept almost the entire time he'd been in the medical bay with her, and the desire to talk to her was starting to become almost overwhelming. Garrus knew that they had shared something in the moment when they drifted away from the ship. He had seen it in her eyes. It mattered. Somehow it mattered quite a bit, but he wasn't sure how to even broach the topic, especially when she was so pointedly formal with him.

He remembered her labored breathing as he picked her up off the floor of the cargo hold and carried her to the elevator. So fragile. And then, he had watched her sleep. Yes, what had passed between them mattered to him. The whir of the elevator doors drew him back to the present... and to Shepard, who stepped out and started towards him.

"Garrus, I'm glad you are still awake. I have a delicate matter I'd like to discuss."

Garrus nodded. "Of course, Commander."

"Admiral Hackett is concerned that if news gets out of a bunch of humans doing horrific experiments on Turians... well, the war wasn't that long ago. Hackett wants me to keep the situation under wraps... err, quiet... until we've made some progress tracking these bastards down."

"So, he doesn't want you to tell the Council. I bet Kaidan will love that."

She had thought the same thing. Well, truthfully, it had been her second thought. Her first thought, as it was all too often these days, was of Garrus. Would he be horrified that they weren't informing the Council? Would he think that she was trying to cover it up?

"Oh, I expect that he'll tell me exactly how far I have gone wrong, but first I wanted to check with you."

"Why me?" Garrus asked, his eyes narrowing.

"I didn't want you to think that I was trying to cover it up. I wanted to be sure that you'd be okay with this."

Garrus laughed. Could he be so offended that he laughed at her idea that he would be okay with the delay? Shepard had been so busy the last few days that she hadn't had a chance to talk to him. Had she made some kind of horrible mistake?

"Shepard, I heard Aktus. I saw what they did to him. You did the right thing when you killed him. Maybe we haven't known each other for that long, but do you really think that I'd trust bureaucrats instead of you to get the job done?"

He reached out his hand to her, and all the worries, all the questions fell away. She took his hand.

"Of course, I trust you, and I'll always have your back."

She looked into his eyes and felt the truth of his words. There was nothing she could say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took me so long to finish this. I'll be going back over it to clean up mistakes. Hopefully, this will be the first in a series.


	9. The Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard begins to work on the mystery of the freighter.

She had held hands with Garrus.  Okay, it hadn't been any kind of romantic holding hands, and he had been wearing gloves... gloves! Shepard sat on her bed and tried to wipe the moronic smile off her face.  She'd felt the heat of Garrus's hand through the glove, and somehow that made it more... what? romantic?  She wasn't sure about that.  However, it had been more genuine closeness than she had felt in a long time.  
  
Shepard looked over at the data pads on her little desk, and the smile slipped away on its own.  She had gotten behind on her reports, and even after having taken the last few days to work on them, it seemed like there was just so much left to do.  And on top of that, there were all these different leads she needed to follow, from overheard bits of conversation to hacked messages.  Shepard put her head in her hands.  Of course, there was also this whole mess with the freighter.  She had contacted Hackett about it as soon as she was out of MedBay.  
  
"Commander, I'm listening," Hackett had said.  
  
"Admiral Hackett, I recently came across something fairly disturbing.  Thirty six hours ago, I boarded a derelict freighter with a small team only to eventually discover that it was being used by a group of human scientists to do experiments on Turians."  
  
"What kind of experiments?"  
  
Shepard wasn't really sure how to answer.  "Sick ones, sir.  I don't know enough to give you any details at the moment.  Dr. Chakwas just released me from MedBay twenty minutes ago.  Since they were human scientists, I thought I would let you know before I sent a report to the council."  
  
It wasn't like she was naive.  Shepard knew that occasionally the governments back on Earth - and even the Alliance - got their hands dirty with black ops, but she really hoped that this wasn't one of those times.  She wasn't going to close her eyes to this.  And what if the Alliance was involved?  Could she trust them?  If nothing else, she was pretty sure she could trust Hackett.  
  
"The turians will be angry, and with reason.  Commander, I realize that I'm putting you in a difficult position, but I'm going to ask you to get more information before you bring this to the Council.  A diplomatic incident could be exactly what these people are looking for.  See if you can find out who is behind this.  I'll do some discreet digging on my end as well."  
  
"Very well, sir. I'll do some investigation first."  
  
"I appreciate that, Commander.  Hackett out."  
  
It did seem like a completely reasonable request.  He hadn't asked her to put it off, just do some work before bringing it to the politicians.  The problem, of course, was that Shepard didn't know the first thing about doing this kind of investigation.  How should she go about analyzing forensic evidence?  Shepard could feel her shoulders getting tight.  She took a deep breath and shook her head. She really needed to work on delegating.  It shouldn't have taken her this long to remember that she had a C-Sec investigator on board.  Garrus had been great on the freighter, and although she thought of him as a sniper and tech, he was also a cop.  Now, she could put his experience to good use.  It was such a relief that Shepard felt giddy.  And that was definitely the only reason she felt that way, or at least, she was going to tell herself that.  
  
  
The Normandy was in route to the Gemini Sigma cluster to deal with some crime boss.  Shepard had told him that she would be taking the Mako, and so Garrus had eaten a ration bar instead of dinner - which wouldn't have been much better - and was now lying on a little wheeled platform under the Mako with oil running down his fingers.  Shepard had bought the platform for him after she saw him under the Mako the first time.  The extranet site she bought it from called it something that his translator could never figure out.  Garrus just called it "the platform" and made a back and forth gesture with his hand that Shepard seemed to understand.  
  
He had about twelve hours before they reached the Han system, but that probably wouldn't be enough time to undo what Shepard and Feros had done to the vehicle.  He had been convinced that they were going to die when Shepard drove the Mako over a barrier on one of those sky bridges.  The Mako had tumbled, bouncing upright with one wheel hanging off the edge.  Shepard hit reverse, and they flew back away from the edge.  Then, they swung around and rocketed across the sky bridge, as Shepard felt that a head-on attack was best for dealing with most enemies.  Garrus had picked up a thruster tuning kit on the Citadel, but in addition to not having the time for upgrades, he wondered if giving the Mako more power would really be a good idea.  Would she kill them trying to bash a colossus to death with the Mako?  
  
"Garrus?"  
  
"Shepard?" Garrus said, jerking up to look at her.  Of course, that caused a painful collision between his forehead and the Mako's chassis.  He moaned out some choice curses and dropped back onto the rolled up blanket that he had been using as a fringe cushion.  Shepard grabbed his legs and pulled hard.  
  
The little platform shot out from under the Mako, ramming Garrus's feet into the lip of the walkway that ran down the center of the cargo bay.  It ended up dumping him on his ass before flying backward and whacking Shepard in the knee.  "Woops!" she said.  
  
"Was that really necessary, Shepard?" Garrus asked, his hand on his forehead.  "You could have just punched me... or you know, tried to...."  
  
"Oh, is that so?"  
  
"Back when I was still in the military, I was one of the top ranked hand-to-hand specialists on my ship," Garrus said, getting up, "You should see me in action."  
  
Shepard laughed.  "As much as I'd like to put you in your place, I'm afraid that we have work to do.  Come with me."  
  
Garrus grabbed a towel from a tray of parts and wiped off his hands.  He pulled his gloves back on and noticed that Shepard was watching his hands very intently.  Like most turians, he wore gloves to cover his talons, as they seemed to make other species nervous.  Shepard didn't seem nervous, though.  If anything, she seemed more than a little curious.  Garrus filed that away for future consideration.  
  
Shepard led him into the elevator and up to her quarters.  Many of the crew were in the mess area, and Garrus felt their inquisitive eyes tracking him.  He had never been in her quarters before.  Aside from the stack of data pads on one of the little tables and a duffle bag under the bed, there was no sign that anyone lived here.  The room was surprisingly big too.  It seemed strange, since she wasn't using the space.  
  
"So," Shepard said, sitting down on the end of her bed and gesturing to one of the chairs for Garrus, "I need your help."  
  
Garrus flicked a mandible in curiosity.  When he didn't say anything, she continued.  "Hackett wants me to investigate these scientists from the freighter, but I don't have the first idea how to go about that.  I was hoping that we could work together on this.  You have so much more experience in this area than I do...."  
  
Garrus trilled with how pleased he was that Shepard had so much confidence in him.  Her eyes opened wide, and Shepard hopped up off the bed, ran over, and put her ear on the armor covering his chest.  "Do it again!" she said.  This wasn't a command, though.  She sounded so happy that Garrus trilled again.  
  
"That was incredible!" Shepard said, laughing.  "You sound a little like a bird.  I'll have to listen to you speak sometime without my translator.  I bet you sound beautiful."  
  
This was more positive feedback in just a few minutes than Garrus had received in the last ten years, and he started to get a little uncomfortable.  He cleared his throat and said, "Um... yeah.  Of course, I'll help you with the investigation.  We should start by organizing all of the evidence that we have and figuring out who can analyze it for us."  As soon as the words came out, he wanted to take them back.  What a great opening she had given him!  Why had he wasted it?  
  
Shepard nodded, losing her smile. "Okay, but I want to keep this really quiet.  I don't think that this is some kind of Alliance black op...."  
  
"But you don't want to take the chance that there is a leak someplace.  Right.  The same could be said for C-Sec."  
  
"Also, I'm not telling most of the crew," Shepard said.  
  
Garrus flicked his mandible again.  
  
This time, Shepard seemed to understand.  "If I'm going to keep this from the Council, I want to keep the number of people who know the details to a minimum.  Tali already has seen the data, plus she really knows her science, so she'll be in the loop.  You, Mattocks, and I will go on any missions that might involve these guys.  I think that the others are busy enough that they probably won't get too curious, except for Kaidan.  I'll think of something to deal with him later."  
  
Garrus just shook his head.  Shepard put up with too much of Kaidan's crap, in his opinion.  However, it wasn't his place to tell her how to run her ship, so he went back to the case.  He opened a new file on his omnitool and said, "So, what kind of evidence have we got? Physical items first."  
  
"Well," Shepard said, "we've got that tech's body, plus the knife that I ... used on Aktus.  Both of them are in status pods in MedBay."  
  
"Good....  Damn!  I didn't think about it before, but we might have had dust on our armor, especially the boots, from the freighter." Garrus looked down at his armor.  He had cleaned it as usual after he got out of the medical bay.  
  
Shepard wrinkled her forehead.  It was kind of cute, in a strange, human way.  "I've already cleaned my armor.  I can ask Mattocks, but I'm guessing he has too.  Basic training really beats armor care into your skull, since we've had so much trouble with dust and seals since the very beginning of the human space program." Shepard thought for a moment.  "However, Dr. Chakwas left all of my armor in here in a bag.  I've been too busy to deal with the bag, so I've still got it around.  There might be some dust in that."  
  
Shepard started to get up to get it, but Garrus stopped her.  "Not yet," he said.  "Let's finish going through the evidence."  
  
"'Evidence'," Shepard said, making little quotes in the air.  It was a catchy gesture.  Hell, Garrus had even seen the turian councilor use it.  "When you say it like that, it makes me feel like a detective."  
  
"You are going to be detecting, so the word is right," Garrus replied with a tilt of his head.  Why did she care if she was a detective?  
  
Shepard grinned and said, "In human literature, especially old human literature, detectives are really cool, smart, rule-breaking characters.  They are sort of outsiders, who look into things that people try to hide.  Reality might be completely different..."  
  
"Oh, it is," Garrus said.  
  
"...but in popular human imagination, detectives are so cool."  
  
Garrus couldn't help but laugh.  Being a detective - at C-Sec, at least - was more paperwork and red tape than clever solutions and being cool.  Still, this was an interesting element of human culture.  Perhaps he would find one of these detective stories on the extranet.  
  
"So, Detective Shepard, what other evidence do we have for our case?" Garrus asked.  
  
Shepard giggled.  With a huge grin on her face, she said, "I took a bunch of readings while we were over there.  Tali has those.  The Normandy scanned the freighter and the other two ships, so we have that data."  
  
"I downloaded some information from their mainframe, although it is still encrypted," Garrus said.  
  
"And Aktus, the turian in restraints, said that the other two were Ranj and Venor.  Aktus had been in the Blue Suns.  I recorded all that too," Shepard said.  Garrus nodded, typing the information into his omnitool.  "Oh, and there's this."  
  
She got up and opened a compartment in the wall.  Shepard took out a small bag and handed it to Garrus.  Inside was a silver ball that fit in the palm of his hand.  "Prothean data disk," Garrus said.  
  
"Aktus said, 'Look under the tank.'  I guessed he meant the one with the mutilated body in it.  That is what I found."  
  
"Are you going to report it?" Garrus asked.  
  
"I have to.  You know the penalties for hiding Prothean technology.  I've got a plan for what to say." Shepard handed Garrus a data pad. "What do you think?"  
  
Garrus read it.  "Very concise," he said with a wry tilt of his mandible.  
  
Shepard shrugged.  "So, what now?"  
  
The readout on his visor told him that it was late.  Shepard was drooping, and he didn't want to keep her awake when she needed rest.  
  
"We've actually got a lot of evidence here.  You were really smart to take all those readings.  You'll make a good detective.  Now, you sleep.  Tomorrow, we'll come up with a plan for analyzing the evidence and think about where we'll go from there.  Deal?"  
  
Shepard smiled sleepily.  "Okay, you win. Just don't spend the whole night under the Mako, okay?"  
  
"Someone has to fix it," Garrus said, as he stood up and walked to the hatch.  Shepard followed.  
  
"Thanks, Garrus," she said.  The hatch slid open, and Garrus stepped out through it, still looking back at her.  Shepard stepped out after him. Suddenly, she got a strange look on her face.  She stepped closer to him, slid an arm around his waist, and said in a much deeper, breathier voice than usual, "You were really amazing."  
  
Garrus was frozen in shock.  What was going on?  Shepard brought her other hand up to rub the back of his neck, pulling his head down towards her.  She rubbed her cheek on the side of his face, and then whispered, "I'll explain later."  Then, Shepard kissed him on the nose, turned, and walked back into her quarters.  The hatch slid closed behind her.  
  
_What just happened?_ Garrus wondered.  He stared at the hatch to Shepard's quarters, when he heard a cough behind him.  Garrus turned to see Alenko at his station.  Was Alenko the reason for Shepard's strange behavior?  "Working late, lieutenant?" Garrus asked.  Alenko mumbled something and went back to his console.  Garrus fluttered his mandibles and headed to the elevator.  He had the feeling that everything had just gotten a lot more complicated.  As he got into the elevator, he noticed that the mission report for Juntauma had been filed.  Shepard must have done it seconds ago.  It said:  


Scans of Juntauma revealed a derelict freighter in mid-stage orbital decay. The Normandy's salvage team boarded the vessel and determined it had been attacked by raiders. There was little of value still on board, but the team did find a Prothean data disc.


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, finally some new content. I'm going to try to update this story regularly, but who knows how well I'll do at that. Please point out logical inconsistencies, spelling problems, etc. I'm trying to get all these names right, but often I just don't see the errors. I hope you like where this is going.


	10. Interspecies Communication

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard isn't great at long term friendships. Knowing what a turian is thinking? She's even worse at that.

Garrus looked up at the underside of the Mako. So much had happened in the day, and yet he still found himself trilling in excitement. Shepard was with Tali down in Engineering, and every time the door opened, Garrus could hear the thrum of the drive core and their happy voices. They were probably discussing some new bit of technology that Shepard had brought for Tali from that base on Mavigon. He had the impression that the mission had been terrible, and yet Shepard had still brought something back for Tali. Shepard never had quite such a bounce to her step as when she left Engineering. Garrus was a little bit jealous that he didn't make her that happy, but it was okay, since she had claimed him as her mate. At least, he was pretty sure that was what had happened.

They hadn't had time to talk, but she had physically expressed affection for him in front of another male. That had to to mean that she had claimed him as her mate, right? Garrus knew that the Alliance had regulations against sexual relationships between crew members, so clearly, Shepard would have hidden her intention to have a casual relationship. This meant that it wasn't intended to be casual. The extranet had suggested that some human females showed interest in a male they didn't want to mate with to make their intended mate jealous. This didn't seem like the way Shepard would do things. Also, Kaidan was the only one who had been there, and Shepard seemed only stressed and disappointed by Kaidan. Most likely, that had gotten worse after the scene between Shepard and Kaidan following their return from talking to Helena Blake.

Wrex and Kaidan had gone along with Shepard to take out Blake's partners. The whole situation had been low from the beginning. It was clear to Garrus that Shepard felt she was being manipulated by Blake, and she was pissed even before they left. Garrus had decided to listen in to the suit radio communication - when he could - and as the hours passed, Shepard's voice had become more and more clipped. She hadn't spoken at all once they left Helena Blake. The team had exited the Mako, and Shepard - obviously annoyed and tired - had been heading towards the elevator. Garrus saw that the Mako had taken a beating, but Shepard's closed expression made it clear that she wasn't in the mood for even Garrus's commentary. Just as she reached the elevator, Kaidan took a couple of steps toward her and said, "You let another criminal get away. What is it with you? Is it just too much work to bring them in?" 

Kaidan's words rang in the cargo hold.

Shepard froze. She held her breath for so long that Garrus had started panting a little, worrying that perhaps she would pass out from lack of oxygen. Finally, Shepard took a deep breath and turned around very slowly. She looked at Kaidan with a completely expressionless face and said, "What was that, Lieutenant?"

Garrus could see the moment when her tone cut through Kaidan's anger. He had never been great at reading human facial expressions, but living with humans and getting to know Shepard had taught him a lot. Kaidan tensed, his eyes opened a little, and he said, "Um, nothing, ma'am."

"Good," Shepard said, looking Kaidan straight in the eyes, "because I would hate to have to bring up your insubordination with Captain Anderson. We all have better things to deal with."

Kaidan said nothing. Shepard turned, walked to the elevator, and got in. She had remained completely rigid as she disappeared from view.

"Nice goin', LT," Ashley said, looking up from the assault rifle she was cleaning.

"Usually, Shepard is willing to listen to what I have to say," Kaidan replied. "I think she is letting her role as a Spectre interfere with her job for the Alliance. I was trying to show her how easy it is to forget about right and wrong when you have a lot of power, but she won't even listen."

"Bullshit!" Wrex growled from his usual spot. Garrus hadn't expected Wrex to say anthing, since he almost never spoke to anyone besides Shepard. Wrex and Shepard had started out pretty rough, but it seemed like Shepard was making headway in getting to know the krogan. And here he was standing up for her. "She took care of that Blake woman. What the hell more do you want?"

Ashley's eyes snapped to Kaidan's face. "She killed Helena Blake?" Ashley said.

"No...." Kaidan started, but Wrex continued.

"Nah, she just told her to shut down operations, and if she ever heard about that prissy pyjak's gang again.... Heh heh heh.... Hell, who is stupid enough to cross Shepard?" Wrex said. Garrus thought this last comment was directed at Kaidan.

Kaidan had seemed genuinely confused about Shepard's reaction, and Garrus had to admit that Kaidan's devotion to duty was almost turian, even if his interaction with his commanding officer wasn't. In the end, Kaidan had talked with Ashley for a while, and then gone up in the elevator. A couple of hours later, Shepard had come down to see Tali with some salvage. She seemed fine, so Garrus assumed that she was feeling better. Since then, he'd been working on the Mako and listening to the chirps of conversation that came out of engineering every once in a while.

The door to engineering opened again, and this time Garrus heard the sound of Shepard's boots walking up the slope to the cargo hold. As she got closer, he started to feel a bit nervous. Could they even make a relationship work? He knew that alleries were a possibility. Would Shepard get sick? What about children? He waved his mandibles nervously. When he realized what he was doing, he tried to slow down and relax. He didn't want to rush Shepard on this, even if she was the one who had started it.

Shepard leaned down to look at Garrus under the Mako, her braided fur - _hair_ , Garrus reminded himself, _a good partner uses the correct name for his mate's body parts_ \- flopping down next to her face. "Hey, big guy," she said, "why don't you come up to my place?"

Garrus guessed this was some kind of reference he was supposed to know, as the tone Shepard used was a little strange. Nonetheless, he was really looking forward to being alone with her, so he quickly finished up what he was doing, cleaned his hands, and walked with Shepard to the elevator.

  


Alenko was at his station, and Shepard could feel his eyes on her as she walked with Garrus to her quarters. She could see the tension in Kaidan's posture and the emotions playing over his face: shock, anger, maybe jealousy. His outburst had been uncalled-for after the incident with Helena Blake, but she hadn't exactly distinguished herself with her diplomacy either. Kaidan was a damn good officer, and she knew that he was loyal not only to the Alliance but to the principles it was supposed to stand for. That didn't matter just a little to her. It mattered a lot.

When Shepard had returned to her quarters after the mission, she immediately wrote up a report and sent it to Captain Anderson. She was furious at how she had been manipulated, but she also hadn't seen other options. After doing crunches and push-ups until she ached, Shepard got a message back from Anderson. Always the level-headed one, he had told her that he had put flags in the Alliance systems, so that if Helena Blake showed her face again, they would all know about it. He also reminded her that neither the Alliance nor the Council wanted a soldier who couldn't think for herself. He knew that the situation was a blow to Shepard's pride, but in the end, she had gotten the job done and resolved the situation in a way that could work out to their benefit later. Shepard couldn't predict the future, of course, and it was hard to know if she had made the right choice. However, killing someone for hurting your pride when you have the opportunity to try to change their path... well, that wasn't her way.

As much as she wanted to explain this to Kaidan, Shepard felt that it was just as important to see if Alenko was capable of following her orders. This situation with Saren, plus the other mystery involving the freighter, were probably going to put them in some morally uncomfortable places. Right or wrong, it was simply not possible or practical to debate her every decision with Kaidan. If he couldn't deal with that, she had to find out asap.

Shepard palmed to controls on her door and glanced over her shoulder as she entered. Garrus, thankfully, either didn't notice or didn't care about Kaidan's drama. He looked... well, Shepard wasn't positive, but she thought he looked focused.

Shepard gestured to one of the chairs, and Garrus sat.

"Look, Garrus," she said, "I wanted to apologize for that scene when you left last time. I know I should have talked to you about it right away, but I got caught up in that Helena Blake crap and wasn't really able to focus. Here's the thing: Kaidan is very dedicated to his ideals. I think that's good, but I don't know if his ideals and this situation with the freighter are going to come into conflict in the future. I mean, hopefully, we can find the people responsible, arrest them, and watch them be sent to prison. But when is anything that easy? So, when I saw Kaidan out there, I realized that he was going to not only see you come and go from my quarters, but he'd also probably check up on me. I figured that if he was busy being pissed about how inappropriate it is for me to have a relationship with you, then he wouldn't suspect that we are actually working on business in here."

Garrus's mandibles were clamped tightly to his face. "Sorry, can you explain that again?" he said.

Shepard thought his voice sounded kind of hollow, but she wasn't positive. _Damn,_ she thought, _I'm clearly bungling this._

Shepard took a breath and then said, "We will be using a relationship as a cover, so that we'll be able to carry on our investigation without interference. Going forward, we can act like we are trying to keep it quiet, if you like. That way, we won't have to be affectionate in public. Again, I'm really sorry I didn't ask you about this in advance. It was kind of last minute damage control that came to mind when I saw Kaidan."

"A cover. Right," Garrus said. He hadn't moved. His voice was definitely hollow sounding. For a second, Shepard even thought that he was shaking, but that made no sense at all. Well, maybe he was really angry? Shepard was getting the distinct impression that she had done something wrong when Garrus finally said, "We should get back to the case." He didn't look at her.

Shepard didn't know what to do to fix this. She wasn't great with other humans in actual relationships. Of course, she could talk someone down, but that wasn't the same as maintaining a long-term friendship. Shepard kind of sucked at that. She was dedicated to her work, and that didn't leave a lot of time or energy for anything beyond the superficial. If she couldn't keep things running smoothly with a human, how was she suppose to pull herself out of whatever shit she had stepped in with Garrus? She really wished she could read him better.

 _One more time_ , Shepard thought. She wouldn't have done this for anyone else, but Garrus was ... well, special.

"Garrus," Shepard said, "I feel like you are upset. I don't know what is wrong, and I can't tell from your body language. If I've offended you...."

"No!" Garrus snapped, before she had finished her sentence. "No. Everything is fine. Let's just get back to the case."

It was as close as Shepard had gotten to begging in a long time, and Garrus's response made it clear that there was going to be no discussion. _Fine!_ Shepard thought. _Fuck this. I should have known better than to have let our relationship go beyond business anyway. He's completely right. We have work to do._

"Right, back to the case. I've given all of our readings and the bag with dust from my boots to Tali. She's going to see what she can find. I don't know which of you is better at decryption, so one of you will need to get to work on that information you downloaded from the mainframe. I thought that Liara, our expert on protheans, could take a look at the data disc. Sound reasonable?"

"Yes," Garrus said, looking at the floor.

"I don't know what to tell her to look for, but first I'll see if she can get anything from it at all. As for the knife, I have no idea where to get it analyzed. The same goes for the tech's body. Ideas?" Shepard said.

"None right now," Garrus replied. His voice was monotone, and he still hadn't moved.

"That's helpful," Shepard said. "Well, when you are actually ready to work on the case, let me know. Dismissed."

  


Garrus didn't even really remember getting in the elevator, but the doors were opening into the cargo bay. He stepped out and walked towards his workstation. A keen of pain escaped his fragile control. Humans, he guessed, couldn't hear it, as Shepard hadn't reacted when he lost control of himself back in her quarters. The look Wrex shot him, though, told Garrus that krogan could. Wrex grumbled something and then walked to the elevator, leaving Garrus alone with those who couldn't hear his suffering.

He couldn't believe what a fool he was. Of course, human and turian cultures were totally different, and he had been such an idiot to think just because Shepard's actions meant something in his culture that they meant the same thing in her culture. It was obvious now, but like some completely inexperienced fledgling, he had let his imagination get ahead of his common sense. Knowing that he had made a mistake should have been enough to clear his mind, but something in him had latched on to the idea of Shepard as his mate. The turian bonding instinct was strong, and Garrus didn't see how he was going to get over having his mate reject him.

Shepard had been right when she said that he wasn't helping, though. The stabbing pain he had felt in his chest still echoed there. He had been such an idiot, and look at the result. His friendship with Shepard was ruined. She would ask him to return to C-Sec. He thought of his small apartment on the Citadel, how lonely it was, how empty his life would be. He keened again. Before she threw him off the ship, he should at least try to get something done, so Garrus opened the encrypted data from the mainframe on his computer and started a decryption algorithm working on it. It would take hours for the decryption algorithm to go through the data and probably wouldn't produce anything useful. However, he needed to do something. Garrus watched it work, going over again all the things he had done wrong.

  


Shepard sighed as the doors to the command deck opened. She was going to pick a nice, simple "go shoot these Geth" mission. No drama - just shooting. After the last twenty four hours, she'd even settle for just punching them. Shepard opened the galaxy map, when Joker announced, "Message for you, Commander. Just came in over a secure channel." She didn't want to talk to anyone, of course, but this was her job.

"Shepard, this is Admiral Kahoku. I found out who set that trap for my men. The ones killed by the thresher maw. Damn, I hope you get this message. It was a group called Cerberus. An Alliance black ops organization. Top secret, highest-level security clearance. They vanished a few months ago. Dropped right off the grid. Nobody knew where they went or what they were up to. They've gone completely rogue, Shepard. They're conducting illegal genetic experiments, trying to create some kind of super soldier. I don't have any proof, but I found the coordinates for one of their research worlds. I'm uploading them with this message. They're completely out of control. Somebody needs to stop them. I've done my part. Now, it's up to you. This is... this is probably the last you'll hear from me. Cerberus is after me now. I need to disappear before they find me."

"Fuck," Shepard said. She had liked Kahoku. The message really didn't sound good, and those "illegal genetic experiments", well, those could be related to the freighter. "Joker, take us to those coordinates on the double."

"Aye, Commander," Joker said. "We're already pretty close. ETA - 29 minutes." 

Shepard turned around and headed back downstairs.

As she suited up, Shepard notified Mattocks that he was on the mission. After the scene in her quarters, she wasn't so sure about Vakarian, though. Was his head going to be in the game? Was he still mad at her for whatever she had done wrong? Shepard finished dressing and took the elevator down to the hanger to find out.

Garrus was at his terminal, and it looked like he was working, which loosened the knot in Shepard's stomach.

"Vakarian," she said, using her command voice, "Admiral Kahoku has given us coordinates of a former black ops Alliance group that is conducting illegal genetic experiments. Are you available to check it out with me?"

Ashley turned and gave Shepard some kind of a look. Clearly, the change in her attitude towards Garrus was obvious. Shepard gritted her teeth. _Damn, I suck at friendships,_ she thought.

Shepard saw a number of emotions flash across Garrus's face, but she had no idea what the hell they were. Maybe surprise? Maybe fear? Probably not fear. Well, at least, he had never been afraid of combat in the past, so maybe something else?

At that moment, Shepard was struck by the knowledge that she was only able to communicate with Garrus through a translator. She couldn't really interpret his facial expression, body language, or even vocal tones. Of course, previously she had found herself in situations where she had to make do, but thoughtlessly going into an encounter unprepared was contrary to everything she had been taught. That was the problem, and that problem had a clear and obvious solution. Intel. Good intel was essential, after all. Shepard looked at Garrus and his twitching mandibles and felt a sudden warmth run through her. He wasn't disposable. She had no idea what was going on in his head, but she was going to learn enough about turians to fix whatever had gone wrong between them. Period.

Garrus seemed to make up his mind. He straightened and said, "Of course, Commander. I'm with you."

 _Damn right you are,_ Shepard thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had originally intended this chapter to include dealing with Cerberus, but it seemed long enough. I really hadn't planned for what happened between Garrus and Shepard to go this direction, but this is what came out. I hope you enjoyed reading it! As always, I'll try my best to get the next chapter written reasonably quickly. Unfortunately, I'm not great at actually doing that.


	11. Binthu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard, Vakarian, and Mattocks clear out the Cerberus bases on Binthu.

Shepard, Garrus, and Mattocks sat in the Mako, waiting for Joker to get them into position for the drop. Since there was no maneuvering involved, the drop was automated. Shepard wouldn't take over driving until they were on the ground, something for which Mattocks was quietly happy. Shepard was an incredibly diligent soldier and a very determined leader. He respected her immensely. However, she couldn't drive for shit. His youngest sister, Gods soothe her wounded soul, had been driving ore transfer vehicles on their home station as soon as she could reach all the controls, so this wasn't about cumbersome vehicles or female drivers. No, this was all Shepard.

As they waited, Shepard said, "Here's the sitrep: we're dealing with a rogue, former-Alliance, black-ops organization that is conducting illegal genetics experiments. The coordinates that Kahoku found are on Binthu in the Voyager Cluster. We're going to head in, check out this research base, and find out what is going on. Garrus, you're in charge of noting any items of interest. Once we've dealt with the base, we'll check them out. These are the assholes that arranged for a squad of marines to be attacked by a thresher maw. Mattocks, you are on the Mako's guns. These might just be a bunch of scientists in lab coats, but on the other hand, they could be backed up by a lot of firepower. Let's not allow them to surprise us. The atmosphere is toxic. Keep an eye on your suit's seals."

Mattocks nodded, as did Garrus. The turian hadn't said anything since they boarded the Mako, which was completely out of character. Mattocks hadn't spent almost any time around aliens. By the time he was identified as a biotic, BAaT was closed, so he'd been trained mainly by Alliance personnel. It didn't take a xenopsychologist, though, to guess that something was wrong. Shepard was being strange too, but it was like she was really focused. She seemed completely calm, and it was a good calm. Mattocks could see that Shepard had everything under control. He liked that about her. She identified the problem, came up with a plan, and executed the plan. If things changed, she adapted. No emotional messiness. Just put one foot in front of the other. Garrus was a little more emotional. Chief Williams let herself get too involved, and while Alenko was an excellent soldier - and the man had a lovely ass - he was all emotions sometimes. Mattocks didn't care for a lot of emotions. Emotions got people hurt.

The Mako's jets burned all the way down to the planet. They landed in the standard bouncing roll of the pre-programmed descent. The landscape was greenish-brown and mountainous. The dark haze of chlorine and sulfur dioxide clouds left them in shadow. Shepard grabbed the controls with an eagerness that Mattocks didn't share and pointed them straight at the first element on the map. Garrus made a note in the onboard system of a potential mineral site as they passed it. The mountains here weren't extremely steep, which meant that the Mako wasn't tumbling down them. Mattocks and his stomach both appreciated that.

"Approaching target," Garrus said.

Mattocks drew the controls for the turret to him. The contact integrated the turret's optics with his helmet's HUD. He could see a red indicator on the mini-map, but so far the base hadn't come into view. That changed as Shepard hurdled over a rise, bringing the base - and its heavy turrets - into view. Mattocks took a shot with the main cannon at the closest turret and then switched to the machine gun while the Mako's onboard systems prepped the cannon for another shot. Shephard's driving might have been nausea-inducing most of the time, but jerky, unpredictable driving worked well to avoid rockets. Mattocks, though knocked around, was able to take out the turrets with just a couple of shots.

"Okay, let's get into that base and find out what the hell is going on," Shepard said. "Those heavy turrets might not be the only firepower they have, so be on your guard."

  


Garrus was starting to think that coming along was a terrible idea. He wanted to help Shepard. Of course, he did! However, another wave of self loathing rolled over him, and that combined with Shepard's evasive maneuvers was starting to make his head spin. His chest constricted, and he couldn't breathe. The Mako's cannon boomed, and somehow the reverberation loosened his chest enough to allow him to take a breath. Garrus sucked in the air. _This is ridiculous_ , he thought. Maybe this was why Turian society was so controlled, so structured. Here he was, about ready to pass out in the middle of battle, because he had misunderstood a human's intentions. Garrus had always been offended when his father told him that he needed to follow the rules, that he was too impulsive, too immature. Now, he wondered if his father was right.

  


Shepard led the way down a hallway with Vakarian on her six and Mattocks bringing up the rear. They entered a large, empty room with a door leading off to the left. Mattocks could already see hostiles on his HUD, somewhere behind that door. Shepard signaled Garrus into cover on one side of the door, taking covering on the other side herself. Mattocks was in cover, waiting. He was by far the most "up close and personal" of the squad, and his body sang with energy, as he waited for Shepard's signal to move in. Shepard opened the door. Nothing happened. Shepard waited for a moment and then signaled for Mattocks to move up. He sprinted around the corner into a hallway. He took cover behind the door frame and looked back at Shepard. She nodded, and a green "we are go" light appeared on his HUD, signalling that he should open the door.

The door slid open. Somewhere in the dark room, he heard someone shout, "You must die!"

Mattocks peeked around the door frame. There was some kind of a force fiend in there, in addition to a lot of huge padded supports. That gave them plenty of cover, unless someone lowered the isolation field. Shepard moved up, looked into the room, and signaled for Mattocks to move in. As they moved in, Mattocks could hear Garrus moving into cover behind them in the doorway. Shepard took cover behind a console and engaged a commando. Mattocks ducked behind a padded support. Leaning out, he fired a burst from his assault rifle into a figure in dark armor. Garrus said, "Mattocks, clear my line of fire."

Behind the support, Mattocks waited for the boom of the sniper rifle. He leaned back out of cover, and the guy was still standing. Did Garrus actually miss? That was unexpected. Mattocks threw a Warp at the commando, sprinting around the corner before the guy even hit the floor to finish him off with a shotgun blast.

Looking around the corner of the next support revealed a wild-eyed woman wearing light armor and holding a pistol. Mattocks thought perhaps he could reason with her, but as soon as she saw him, she started shooting and screaming about how his death would be for the greater good. Shepard probably wanted someone to question, so Mattocks waited, keeping an eye on her. When Shepard rounded the opposite corner, the woman swung around, and Mattocks sprinted forward, tackling her, and knocking the gun from her hand.

Shepard walked up to the woman and said, "What's going on here? What...."

Before Shepard could finish her question, the woman surged toward her, out of Mattocks's grasp. The woman was snapping her jaws at Shepard, and saliva - or some other clear fluid - was dripping down her chin. Shepard stepped back, and the woman collapsed.

"Don't touch her," Shepard said to Mattocks, as he stepped forward.

At that moment, Vakarian walked around the corner. Mattocks wondered what the hell was going on with him. Shepard looked up. "Garrus, can you get a sample of whatever fluid was coming out of this woman's mouth? I brought along this stuff," she said, handing him a bag. "Also, if you could get something we could identify her with, it might help. Maybe we can find out more about Cerberus by tracing their scientists."

Vakarian nodded and went to work. Shepard didn't seem to notice whatever was going on with him, though. She went over to one of the terminals and said, "Let's see if we can find out what these things are."

Touching the console caused the isolation field to drop, and the creatures - well, green crab-bugs, kind of - started toward her. It was clear that they were hostile, and she dealt with them quickly. Vakarian went over to her to see what was happening, and Shepard took a bag from him, wrapped it around her hand, and slid it over one of the crab-bugs. There had been very few insects on the station where Mattocks had grown up, and his reaction to them had always been more interest than revulsion. Still, these little things had popped when shot, and that was, in Mattocks's opinion, pretty disgusting. To avoid looking at the dead crab-bugs any longer, he decided to search the periphery of the room for any additional information. There wasn't a lot there, but against the back wall, he found a boxy device with a screen on the front. He called Shepard over.

  


Garrus's sulking was really starting to grate on Shepard. He had been a fantastic soldier, and now he was just one step up from useless. Shepard didn't know how long she could take this, although she wanted to give him enough time to pull himself together. She, of course, still had no idea what was going on with him, but this mission probably wasn't the place for his therapy session. The last thing Shepard wanted was someone getting hurt because Garrus's head wasn't in the game.

So far, they hadn't found anything to give any solid leads on what Cerberus was up to here or if they were behind the experiments on the freighter. That weird creepy crawly might give them some hint, but maybe it was just another dead end. Shepard huffed out a frustrated sigh.

"Commander," Mattocks said, "I think you should look at this."

Shepard walked over to the diagnostic station. The screen turned on as she approached. "Garrus," she said, "what are the chances that this thing is booby-trapped?"

"Well, nothing on the freighter was, but we still don't know if the same group is behind both of them. If it is trapped, probably it would be triggered by the terminal, so maybe if we take the outside panels off...."

Garrus was already bending down to remove a panel, and Shepard relaxed a little. He had sounded more or less like her Garrus. Maybe he had just needed some time after all. Garrus continued to mutter to himself as he disassembled the unit. It didn't take him long to get it stripped down enough to see how it worked.

"No, this thing isn't going to explode. There may well be security on it that will wipe the disk or something, but there are no bombs here," he said.

Shepard stepped up to the terminal. There turned out to be no security, just some very brief emails from other scientists. After going through a couple, it was pretty clear that they were also on Binthu, which meant other bases.

Garrus, who had been reading over Shepard's shoulder with the help of a translation program on his omnitool, said, "Looks like Cerberus has other bases on this world."

Shepard nodded. "Let's see if we can find some more information in one of those," she said.

  


A fairly nauseating ride followed by a lot of dodging Cerberus's heavy turrets.... At this point, Mattocks felt his stomach start twisting in knots at the thought of getting back into the Mako. However, they had another base to clear out before that. This one wasn't nearly as bare as the first had been. They had at least set up some shelving and storage lockers in this base. Shepard hacked the lock on locker and found a couple of sniper rifles and an assault rifle. The door to the lab was set up in the same layout as in the previous base, so Shepard and Vakarian took up positions flanking the door, and Mattocks went through to open the next one.

The configuration inside was the same, and Mattocks had just taken out a commando, when he heard the report of a sniper rifle. It wasn't Vakarian's. The turian's voice followed almost immediately. He screamed just one word, and Mattocks could hear the fear.

  


He was pulling himself together. Garrus just kept telling himself that over and over. He was going to get through this. He had work to do, and he was going to do it like a professional. They had breached the second Cerberus base and engaged the enemy, when a wave of depression hit him. Garrus could feel a keen building, so he shut off his com. He could get through this, he told himself, as he tried to keep his attention on the battle. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment to steady himself. When he opened them, Shepard was writhing on the floor. The quickly fading glow around her told him he had been hit by a warp. He scanned the room and picked out a sniper in cover behind a crate. He lined up a shot, took a breath, and as he let it out, he squeezed the trigger. But nothing happened. His visor showed that he had forgotten to reload after his last shot. Garrus ejected the spent heat sink and fumbled for another. His hands weren't working. He could see the other sniper leaning out of cover to line up a shot.

"Shepard," he called, "sniper on your three."

Shepard didn't react, just continued to pick herself up off the floor, and that was when Garrus remembered he had turned off his com. He gestured to turn it back on as he rushed to slam the heat sink into his rifle. He sighted again on the sniper, but even as he prepared to fire, he saw the muzzle flash and heard the report. He looked up, and Shepard was laying on the ground.

"Shepard!" he keened.

Garrus charged into the room, pulling down his assault rifle as he went. He fired several shots into the sniper, before finding the biotic behind another crate. Garrus shot him twice in the face and watched him crumple. Then, he turned back toward Shepard. Mattocks was already leaning over her, helping her into a sitting position. It was clear that she wasn't dead, but the way she held her shoulder indicated that this was something that needed more than medigel. Garrus stepped towards her, and she waved him off.

"You two, I need you to drop the isolation field and kill that thing if it is hostile. Then, I want to you search this base to make sure that there isn't any information here. We're going to need to go back to the ship, briefly." Shepard seemed to be winding down, and her listlessness caused a sharp pain in Garrus's chest.

  


Mattocks couldn't help but look back at Shepard every couple of seconds. Nonetheless, they managed to deal with the huge tentacle monster, but the search discovered nothing. Vakarian insisted on carrying Shepard back to the Mako, and they called for an immediate pickup from the Normandy. This was not how Mattocks wanted to avoid another trip with Shepard behind the wheel.

  


Doctor Chakwas said nothing as she patched up the commander's wounds. Shepard hadn't regained consciousness since Garrus had brought her into the Med Bay, and now he was hovering, waiting for her to open her eyes. Finally, Chakwas said, "I've given her a light sedative to help her rest while she recovers the blood she lost and her wounds heal. It can be painful, and studies show that patients heal more quickly and have less chance of damaging the regenerated muscles if they are unconscious while the knitting process takes place. This is normal. She will be fine. Now, shoo!"

Garrus wasn't entirely sure about "shoo", but he guessed from Chakwas's gesture that it was time for him to leave. He had left the bag of evidence under the seat in the Mako, but that wasn't going to make for good long-term storage. They had a couple of different kinds of organic fluid and a dead, little green creature. The evidence needed to be refrigerated, but Garrus really didn't want to go back into the Med Bay and find some way to sneak past the doctor. Instead, he retrieved the evidence bag and took the elevator up to the Mess. He grabbed a couple of cold beers from a refrigerated compartment and hacked the lock on the door to Shepard's quarters. The doors slid open easily.

Once inside, he used his omnitool to find the coolest place in the room - one of the wall compartments was slightly cooler than the others - and shoved the bag, the beers, and a towel that had been draped over a chair into it. With luck, that would keep all the organics from rotting before they could figure out where to get them analyzed. That job done, Garrus sat down at the table, just like he had before. The room seemed so barren without Shepard's personality to fill it. He could smell her scent, though. It wrapped around him, steadying him.

Garrus dropped his head into his hands. He had nearly gotten her killed. Maybe she hadn't realized it, but of course, he would tell her. He had screwed up. Worse than that, he had endangered the life of his mate. At this point, it was useless to keen about it. He had bonded to her. When Garrus had stood there in Med Bay watching Chakwas hook Shepard up to some kind of blood infuser, he had realized that it didn't matter if she loved him or wanted him. She needed him. To be there for his mate, that was enough. He realized now that he had been trying to push her away, trying to not be bonded to her, but of course, that wasn't how turian relationships worked. Turians bonded for life. Maybe it was an arranged bonding or maybe it was romantic love, but regardless of why it happened, it couldn't be undone. Trying to not be bonded? It wasn't any surprise that he had fallen apart.

His mother was slowly dying, and Garrus, knowing the pain that his mother's illness caused him and his sister, wondered how his father was able to function. The agony of seeing Shepard wounded would be nothing compared to watching her die. Even if they were never able to agree on anything, Garrus felt his feelings toward his father soften.

Huffing out a lungful of air, Garrus stood. Maybe Shepard would never know how he saw her, what he felt for her, but he would have her back. He would protect her no matter what happened. Protecting his mate was certainly a worthy goal, and it didn't hurt that she was out to save the galaxy from Saren. Garrus waved his mandible and shook his head. He had no idea how he would explain this to his family, but that could wait. Now, he was going to clean the blood out of the Mako.

  


Shepard woke with the most disgusting taste in her mouth and a headache the size of a dreadnought. Her stomach clenched as she tried to lever herself up. She didn't usually drink enough to get hung over, and even one time during training when she'd be dropped on an isolated planet and ended up with food poisoning from some local bacteria, it still wasn't as bad as this.

"Ah, good, you're awake," Dr. Chakwas said.

"Are you sure this isn't hell?" Shepard said, rubbing a hand over her eyes. "QuickSleep?"

"Yes," Chakwas answered. "You had lost a lot of blood and a lot of internal damage. As you undoubtedly know...."

"Yeah, I know," Shepard replied, groaning as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, "but please do me a favor and never use it on me again. QuickSleep and I don't get along."

"You would feel worse without it."

Shepard sighed. She hated having this argument, and she had it with every new doctor. "Maybe, but...."

"Very well. I will not use QuickSleep on you without your permission. However, this could cause complications if you are severely injured."

"I understand. Thank you, Karin. I appreciate it. Now, I need to find my team."

At least, Chakwas wasn't going to be a pain in her ass. Garrus, though.... What she was going to do about Garrus was a serious question to which Shepard didn't have an answer. She dragged herself out of Med Bay, knowing from past experience that getting herself moving would get the QuickSleep lethargy out of her veins. She looked around the Mess and spotted Alenko. Shepard turned to toward the elevator, but Alenko had spotted her too, and he called after her.

"Commander!"

Shepard turned and tried to look attentive, while blocking the overhead lights with one hand. Alenko looked at her for a moment and asked, "Migraine?"

"Maybe," Shepard said. "I feel just amazingly awful, whatever it is. What do you need?"

"I saw Garrus going into your room an hour or so ago with alcohol. Since he is on the ground team, I thought you needed to know."

 _Alcohol?_ Shepard thought. As far as she knew, there wasn't even any alcohol on-board that turians could drink. Suicide by stomach cramps - or whatever the effects were for turians - seemed unlikely. With a sigh, Shepard thanked Alenko and walked over to her door. She had never really been very concerned about privacy, but now that she thought about it, the lock on this door was incredibly easy to override. Probably it didn't matter, but if she was keeping things from the crew, then probably it made sense to have a lock that took longer than a second to hack.

Inside her quarters, everything looked the same as when she had left. Everything... except the towel that had been on the chair. Trying to picture Garrus sneaking into her quarters to steal her towel and then go get drunk with it was so strange that she almost laughed, except that she still felt sick and had heard some kind of weird creepy things in her time in the Alliance. But, Garrus? She wasn't ready to accuse him of being a drunken towel thief yet.

Not knowing were else to start, Shepard decided to search the room. Since there was almost nothing in it, it didn't take long for her to find the beers, the towel and the organic evidence in one of the storage compartment. A smile spread across her face. _Damn, I feel awful,_ she thought, but Garrus had finally removed his head from his ass... or whatever turians had down there. Even if he was prickly with her, at least he was working and thinking again. He'd done a good job keeping this stuff cold, but it needed to go into the compartment in Med Bay. Shepard took the innocuous-looking bag of evidence and walked back across the mess hall. Dr. Chakwas was busy, and Shepard slipped the evidence into the cryo storage pod without a problem.

Now, it really was time to find her squad.

  


Commander Shepard looked marginally better than when they had brought her up to Dr. Chakwas, but Mattocks wouldn't have said that she looked healthy. As the boosters kicked in, Shepard turned slightly green. Vakarian, who was behaving more like he cared about the outside world, looked at her and said, "Maybe now you'll have some sympathy for us when you decide that flipping the Mako end over end is a good way to get us down a mountain."

Shepard flicked an annoyed glance toward Vakarian, but her lips twisted up in a smirk. "I tolerate QuickSleep for shit," she said. "But I don't know why you are complaining. I always remind you to put on your safety harness when we get in the Mako."

Their banter was a little forced, a little hollow, but Mattocks figured that it was enough that they were trying. When the Mako hit the ground, Shepard cringed, which wasn't the best sign. He was going to have to keep an eye on her. A glance at the turian showed that he had noticed Shepard's reaction too. It was a relief to have him back in the fight.

The drive to the third of Cerberus's bases was sedate compared to Shepard's usual handling of the Mako. Instead of taking on the heavy turrets with a frontal assault, she kept the Mako pretty far back and had Mattocks use the cannon to slowly whittle down the defenses. Once the last turret exploded, they went in. Shepard was more cautious, although the first room was again mostly empty. They stayed in tight formation, always in cover, as they moved into the main room. As before, there were some kind of force screens separating the test subjects from the researchers. These test subjects were humanoid, although their features were indistinct through the screen. Carefully and methodically, they took out the commandos and researchers. Vakarian was definitely less cocky, but he was getting the job done. Shepard didn't go rushing off anywhere, which suited Mattocks just fine.

At one of the research stations, Shepard was able to take down the shields. As they fell, Mattocks got a look at the grayish walking corpses.

"Thorian creepers!" Shepard announced. "Used ranged attacks. Remember, they vomit acid."

  


Having fought Thorian creepers on Feros, they were able to take out the small number in this base with no trouble. That was when Shepard noticed the body. Garrus saw her go rigid. He didn't recognize the human on the floor, but he could see that the man was wearing an Alliance uniform. Stepping up to the body, Garrus slowly turned him over.

"Kahoku," Shepard said, her voice hushed.

The body clearly hadn't been torn apart by the creepers or damaged by their acid, but there was no pulse. Kahoku was dead. Garrus checked the body over for signs of injury. Finally, he noticed a damp spot on the inside of the man's sleeve. When he pulled it up, Garrus found several injection marks. It was not, he thought, the way a soldier would want to die.

Shepard said something angry that his translator refused to clarify. Her face was pale; her eyes, dark. "One of these medical terminals might have some information. Start looking...carefully," she said.

While they worked, Shepard contacted the Normandy. "Joker, can you get me a secure channel to Anderson?"

"It will take a minute or two, Commander."

Shepard waited, eyes on Kahoku. Garrus and Mattocks finished up their work, and Garrus reported, "Shepard, we've found some encrypted information. I'm not able to crack it here, but it doesn't look exceptionally complicated, so I think that I can decrypt it on the Normandy. Based on where we found it, I think that it could contain information about Cerberus's main base."

Shepard nodded. Joker's voice came through over the common channel. "Commander, I have Anderson for you."

"Shepard?" Anderson asked.

"Anderson," she said, "I received information from Admiral Kahoku approximately five hours ago that a former Alliance group called Cerberus was responsible for the deaths of his soldiers. I went to Binthu to follow up. We found three bases on Binthu. Each of which attacked without provocation, and each of which contained some kind of illegal research. We believe we may have found information about their main base. I'm sorry to report that in the last base, we also found Admiral Kahoku's body. He's dead, sir."

"Oh, no," Captain Anderson said. There was a long pause. They waited, tense. "Thank you for your report, Commander. I'll inform Admiral Hackett and ask him to send a ship to retrieve Admiral Kahoku's body and sweep the bases for more information. Because your information about the main Cerberus base may be time-sensitive, I'm authorizing you leave to pursue your lead. Seal the base behind you."

"Yes, sir."

"Anderson out."

Shepard gave the signal to move out. Garrus and Mattocks followed.

Back in the Mako, Shepard turned to Garrus and said, "Give the coordinates for those other miscellaneous objects of interest to the Mako's VI. Let's get done with this."

Garrus had really expected Shepard just to call for pickup by the Normandy, but that wasn't her way. Really, should have known her well enough by this point to know that she would never leave any task uncompletely merely because she was miserable. Garrus certainly wasn't alone in thinking that Shepard had more important things to do than survey minerals and salvage tech from old probes. Spirits, you'd think that she was a quarian the way she made sure that she had scoured every possible bit of salvage from an area before she moved on. It did make sense, though. The Alliance and humans were newcomers to the galaxy outside their solar system. They had discovered prothean technology through just this kind of perseverance, so why wouldn't they check out everything they came across. Besides, the Alliance didn't have infinite resources. Whatever Shepard picked up along the way was one less thing she had to requisition.

Still, as they worked their way through the list he had made on their way to the Cerberus bases, Garrus couldn't help but wish that Shepard was a little less dedicated. Her skin was pale, and her face had no expression. Her knuckles were white on the Mako's controls. Even when they pulled the prothean data disc from the top of a pyramid, she showed no emotion, which he was sure out of character for her. Mattocks had actually taken a couple of holos, inconspicuously, of course.

They re-entered the Mako, and Shepard immediately opened a channel to the Normandy. "Joker," she said, "Get us the hell off this planet."

Before his boots even made contact with the Normandy's deck, Shepard had her harness off and was moving toward the elevator. "Vakarian, come with me," she said.

His long legged stride allowed him to reach her just as she entered the elevator. He was glad, as he thought that she looked angry, and he didn't want to make her wait. The ride up was tense and silent. He followed her across the Mess to her quarters. As soon as the door slid shut behind him, Shepard asked, "How long is it going to take for you to decrypt those files?"

"An hour or two," he replied. Garrus wasn't positive that he could get it done so quickly, but he would pull Tali in to help, and hopefully, they could get something useful.

Shepard slammed her fist into the wall. The shock of sound jolted Garrus. "That's not soon enough!" Shepard shouted. "We need to get those assholes now! We need to make them pay now. What if they get away? It will all be my fault. If I hadn't gotten shot, we might have gotten to him in time. If I had been faster. If I hadn't been careless...."

Shepard hung her head, and Garrus was frozen for a moment in shock. It wasn't Shepard's fault. If anything, he was to blame for being so consumed by his grief that he couldn't focus. "Garrus," Shepard said, her voice trailing off. He could smell blood. His mate was injured and in pain. Garrus stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. Shepard looked up at him, her eyes filled with tears. "Garrus, it is my fault that he died."

"That isn't true," he said, his voice rich with soothing subharmonics. Shepard took a step toward him and rested her head against his chest plate. He wished for one of the first times in his life that he wasn't wearing armor. He had no idea how to comfort her, so he tried rumbling and trilling the way his mother had when he had run crying to her as a fledgling. He rocked her a little and stroked her back.

Shepard let out a sob. "It isn't fair, Garrus. It isn't fair."

She started to sag against him, so Garrus picked her up as gently as he could and sat down on the bed with Shepard cradled in his arms. She wept, although slowly tears gave way to labored breaths, and eventually even those quieted. She didn't move, just lay against his chest, breathing peacefully. And that was when he realized that she had fallen asleep.


	12. Nepheron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which some insight is achieved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry this has taken so long to write. Not only is writing it slower than anticipated, but the story is moving more slowly than expected also. Let me know what you think. I don't want to skip over too much for fear of losing useful details, but clearly I don't want it to be boring. Thank you to those readers who have stuck with me!

Lieutenant Alenko and Gunnery Chief Williams stood over near her station speaking in what they thought were hushed voices. At least, that was what Garrus guessed. They really had no idea how bad human hearing was compared to that of other races. He'd been able to hear every word of their conversation before he shut off his translator. Alenko seemed to be trying to work through his feelings about Shepard and her style of command. While there was nothing wrong with this - in fact, Garrus thought that Williams could be very helpful in this situation - he didn't want to hear it. Alenko's problems were none of his business, anyway.

Garrus had spent three hours holding Shepard in her quarters while she slept. He hadn't wanted to disturb her. He had told himself repeatedly that it wasn't about wanting to hold her in his arms. It was one thing to be there for her, to help her, and to watch her six. It was another to lay awake thinking of how different she looked when she slept, about how her body felt against his. Which, of course, was what he was doing now. He and Tali had started running some preliminary algorithms on the data from the Cerberus base, and he had gone back to his cot behind the Mako intending to get some rest. However, Alenko's discussion with Williams and then his own thoughts made it difficult for Garrus to sleep. Now, it was time to get back to the Cerberus data, and Garrus just wished that Alenko and Williams would take their conversation up to the mess, so that he could get up and not look like he had been hiding to spy on them. Tali's quick step signaled that it was time to get back to work, so he had to get on with it. With a exaggerated yawn and stretch, Garrus stood up. The two humans glanced his way, but that was all.

Garrus's terminal was just finishing its analysis of the Cerberus data when he approached with Tali. The initial decryption algorithm hadn't had much success, which was what Garrus had expected.

"You know," Tali said, bouncing a little, "I had been thinking that if this blunt force analysis didn't work, perhaps we could try looking for the key in the data that we decrypted already. What if they didn't expect the people who might retrieve the data later to have the key? What if they left it somewhere that only their bosses would know to look?"

Tali barely came up to the top of Garrus's cowl, and they had lowered the terminal to a comfortable height for her. However, that meant that he had to lean down to see what she was pointing at on the screen. When they finally started to make headway, Tali bounced up again, and Garrus had to dodge out of her way. It didn't take more than half an hour of bouncing and dodging for them to decrypt the file, using a combination of Tali's idea about the hidden key and Garrus's C-Sec experience analyzing encrypted data. 

Garrus commed Shepard. She answered, and her voice was so calm that a stranger would never have known that something was wrong. However, Garrus wasn't a stranger, and in that moment, it struck him how much she sounded like the emotionless Commander Shepard he had seen occasionally in vids. He had been so surprised when he met her in person on her way to see the Council, because she was so alive, so unlike the image of Commander Shepard that the Alliance had been selling.

"They are on Nepheron in the Voyager Cluster, Shepard. I'm sending the coordinates now," he said, as he forwarded them to Shepard's omnitool.

"Vakarian," she radioed back a couple of minutes later, "Joker says it will be two and a half hours to get there. You and Mattocks will be on the ground team." Her voice was so flat... so empty.

Garrus wasn't really sure what to do to help. Before stressful missions, turians often sparred to defuse some of the tension. Of course, he had no doubt that Shepard could get the job done, but it bothered him to see that she had hidden herself away behind some kind of perfect Alliance soldier mask. Maybe if she let off some steam, she'd feel more like herself. "Interested in sparring, Shepard?" Garrus asked. "I believe you doubted my masterful abilities, and it is time to put you in your place."

The comm was silent, and Garrus wondered if he'd made a mistake. Then, Shepard's sharp laugh cawed in his ear. "You're on, Vakarian. I'll be down in 5."

Wrex had stomped into the cargo bay sometime during the conversation, and he nodded at Garrus. Honestly, Garrus wasn't exactly sure if the krogan was just looking forward to seeing a fight or if he approved of getting Shepard's mind off Kahoku's death. Either way, it was probably a good sign. At least, Garrus hoped it was.

Garrus gathered up some clothes that were more appropriate to sparring than his armor and went off to change. When he got back, Shepard was talking to Williams, and there was a mat in the middle of the floor.

"You afraid that your going to fall and hurt yourself?" Garrus called to her.

"Nah," Shepard said, "I just didn't want to break my favorite backup sniper."

"Backup? You barely even remember that you've got a sniper rifle most of the time," Garrus said, his mandibles flaring as much from relief as from enjoyment of their banter. He was glad to be talking to Shepard and not her soldier mask.

Shepard reassured Williams about something, her tone soothing, and then walked over to the mat. She was wearing baggy green pants that looked well used and a white tank top, slightly yellowed with age. Her dark hair was in a braid, as usual. Garrus had noticed that Shepard never wore any of the cosmetics that some other women on the ship did. Her clothing always looked professional and crisp, and her armor was always clean and unscratched, as though she could be photographed whenever necessary for a recruiting poster. Now, though, she was in clothing that she seemed to have worn a lot. Maybe this was who she really was. It was an intriguing thought. It also made Garrus wonder how much pressure Shepard was under to look good for the Alliance.

Garrus studied this thought about Shepard, guessing who she was for the Alliance and who she was when she was alone, while he waited. How many people ever got to see her when she was herself? He had never expected Shepard to be so complicated. Humans were stereotypically considered simple, grasping, and short-sighted. That was definitely an oversimplification. Garrus stretched. Shepard stepped onto the mat and gestured to him. He stepped forward, crouching slightly, beginning to circle.

 

Garrus was beginning to circle her on the mat. Shepard had to admit that he seemed more predatory like this. He still had his gloves on, though. She should have asked him take them off, but it was too late for that now. Having the gloves on bugged her, though. Like he was afraid of hurting her. Of course, it was a little annoying, but she'd take him down gently. Also, he wasn't making a fist the way a human would. Of course, that made sense. His hands weren't shaped like a human's. For that matter, most of the rest of him wasn't either.

It was hard to believe that this Garrus was the same one in whose arms she had woken up. Wasn't that a surprise! Shepard couldn't even remember how long it had been since she'd woken up in anyone's arms. Hell, it might have been... nah, he was just a one night stand, and he'd disappeared before she'd woken up. She'd been pissed at the time, she remembered now, and vowed never to do that again.

Garrus's shoulder dipped a little bit, and his arm shot out. Shepard dodged to the side, snapping out a kick to Garrus's midsection. He twisted, sweeping his arm down to grab her leg, but seeing that it wasn't going to connect, Shepard pulled it back in. She changed direction, attacking with an elbow and a couple of punches. Garrus blocked them, took a step back, and began to circle again. "Okay, so you weren't asleep. I had to check," he said.

Thinking about her spectacular lack of a love life wasn't exactly going to win this fight. Garrus was right that her mind had wandered. And now it seemed that the cargo bay was filling up. She didn't want to get knocked on her ass, especially not in front of the whole crew. Shepard focused in on Garrus, his movements, his circling. She watched for an opening, and then - this time with no dip of the shoulder - Garrus struck at her again. He had done it on purpose! Garrus telegraphed his first strike to either trick her later or to keep from embarrassing her by knocking her over. Even as she dodged and threw a punch at Garrus's head, Shepard had to acknowledge that she was impressed.

Shepard's punch flew towards Garrus's head, and then he was just not there anymore. He had dropped down unnaturally quickly and was now coming back at Shepard's chest with his shoulder. There just wasn't time to dodge out of the way. Damn, he was fast! Shepard spun away, taking a hard hit on her shoulder, but using the force to propel her around, adding force to her spinning elbow. Her elbow hit his back, but he was already moving away. She really wasn't sure how much she had hurt him, as turian backs were tough. Her elbow stung.

They both finished turning at approximately the same time, and for a moment, Shepard's brown eyes locked with Garrus's blue ones. He flared his mandibles briefly. Shepard thought it was like a smile. This was certainly a challenge... a fun one, she realized. On the other hand, Shepard also realized that her training against turians had never considered the possibility of friendly sparring. She wasn't going to try to tear his mandible off or break a spur. Maybe she needed to get creative.

 

Shepard was thinking again. Garrus could see it. She still seemed focused on him, though, so probably she was coming up with a plan to kick his ass. That was okay, of course. He had expected that Shepard would knock him down, but still it was extraordinarily pleasurable to be able to put aside everything else and just focus on this moment with her... well, with her and most of the crew watching them.

He batted away a few playful punches and struck back. Shepard blocked and threw a combination of blows, one of which glanced off the keel of his sternum and seemed to rattle his entire skeleton. Overwhelming your enemy with combinations and flurries of attacks was a turian technique. Impressive! Garrus threw a punch at Shepard's head. She spun to the side, grabbed his arm, and rotated it over her shoulder. The throw brought Garrus down into a roll across his cowl, which rotated him in a quarter circle. He came up facing Shepard again, she looked stunned for a heartbeat, then crouched and sprung forward. She tackled Garrus with her arms around his waist, and since he was still regaining his balance from the roll, he wasn't able to absorb the force of the blow. Plus, her arms were around his waist.

They hit the floor with a thud. Garrus was not entirely sure what to do, after all turians didn't grab there when fighting... well, not unless it was a private sparring match taking place as the prelude to some very feisty sex. And he wasn't thinking about that now. Definitely not thinking about how he could feel her warm breath on his waist. Spirits!

It was Wrex's chuckle as he stomped out of the cargo bay that finally got Garrus moving. He looked down at Shepard.

"I'm stuck," she said, with a wrinkled forehead and a rising blush. Her arms were pinned not only by his weight, but also her arm was wedged between his hip spur and his waist - keep breathing, Vakarian, he thought - and her baggy pants had caught on one of his leg spurs. How that had happened, he couldn't guess.

They managed to disentangle themselves, as the crew departed. Garrus expected Shepard to leave as well, but instead she stayed, asking him about how turians sparred, asking about common fighting styles, getting hints on what to expect for next time. Garrus had to admit that he liked the idea of there being a "next time". Her calm, friendly smile was also an enormous relief to him. It was so nice to have the real Shepard - his Shepard - back.

 

A boom from the comm echoed through Liara's storage room. She twitched every time the Mako's main cannon fired, but she couldn't bring herself to turn the comm off. Liara was used to being alone, and she was still not really comfortable interacting with the Normandy's human crew. However, she felt that she owed it to her new shipmates, especially to Shepard, to keep abreast of their activities. And thus, she was here trying to split her attention between the on-going battle at the Cerberus base on Nepheron and the prothean data disc that Shepard had discovered.

The disc was inside a data recorder, which no longer functioned properly. The problem was that the centimeter-thick recorder had been crushed near one of the three finger-grooves, so it wasn't coming open. Prothean data discs were so delicate that trying to force open a data recorder usually destroyed the disc inside. Researchers generally agreed that it was better to collect damaged recorders for the day when a technique was discovered for opening them safely. Liara frowned and looked again at the recorder. There were some relatively safe techniques for opening recorders, and she had tried every one, plus some new ones that she had come up with out of desperation. However, it probably wasn't going to be possible to open it. That meant that the only data she could recover would be the current track on which the recorder was stuck. Failure this early in her tenure on the Normandy.... Liara sighed.

Normally, a prothean data recorder could be used to access all the data on the disc. However, even a damaged recorder might be able to access one small segment of data. Even with a working recorder to access the data, there was still the problem of interpreting it. Some data was more or less straightforward. When humans discovered the archives on Mars, they had been able to interpret some of the information there without any prior knowledge of prothean language or culture. However, to get a more complete translation, researchers used a VI that was programmed to incorporate not only translation tools but also everything that was known about prothean society. Serious researchers programmed their own VIs, and academic espionage was not unheard of.

Liara was rather proud of the VI she had built. Of course, there was still so much to learn, but her translations produced significantly more coherent results than those of many famous archaeologists. In fact....

"We're in," Shepard said.

"Kick their asses," Joker said. Liara wasn't sure if he was broadcasting to Shepard.

Liara set the VI to translate the segment that the recorder would play back, and then turned her attention to the sound of doors swishing opened coming through the comm.

Another door swished open, and then a male voice yelled, "Go! Go! Go!"

A female shouted, "I will destroy you!"

This was followed by the boom of a sniper rifle, and staccato bursts of assault rifle fire. Shepard was not the yelling type, Liara thought, so she wasn't surprised to hear nothing from the commander.

"Hey, Emerson," Joker said, "what do you want to bet that Garrus scores 'one bullet, one kill' for each shot in this fight? Oh, come on! I've got fifty credits that he will."

It was difficult for Liara to hear the pilot over the sound of gunfire. The battle seemed to last much longer than many of the previous ones that Liara had listened to. The way the volume of the gunfire changed seemed to indicate that Shepard was spending a lot of time in cover, and she was definitely breathing hard by the time Vakarian said, "Perimeter secured." Clearly, it had been a difficult fight.

Liara read over the translation. It seemed to be discussing how to integrate new species into the Prothean Empire. No doubt, they wanted to ensure that everyone contributed and felt that they belonged. While her translation had a high chance of accuracy, Liara knew that whoever had been hiding this data disc would have used a different translation VI: maybe a commercial one, maybe one of the free ones put out by a university or even a group of hobbyists. 

A door hissed open over the comm. Shepard cautioned Vakarian and Mattocks to be alert and check their corners. Another door hissed opened.

Liara had built alternate translation VIs into her program for error checking and to explain the sometimes outrageous translations her peers published. She instructed the VI to use several of the most popular prothean VIs on the extranet to translate the same segment of the data disc. It might give Shepard insight into the thought processes of the scientists from the freighter.

More doors opening. Then, Shepard said, "I've found a terminal. I'm going to see if I can get any data off of it."

After a moment, an alarm chimed. "Fuck," Shepard said. Time passed, as Liara sat watching the wall where the speaker for the ship's comm was located. Her hand hovered above the terminal's inputs. "Normandy, the optical database flashed itself, but I was able to copy some files to my hardsuit's internal computer. They are probably encrypted, but we've got time. My squad will finish up here and then return to the Normandy. Shepard out."

"That was kind of anticlimactic," Joker said, "but at least those fuckers are dead."

Liara turned back to the VI and pressed the "confirm" key.

 

Shepard felt good to be back on the Normandy. She was still angry about Kahoku's death, but her job wasn't revenge. It was time to turn the encrypted information over to the Alliance and let the admirals deal with what was left of Cerberus. There were still at least a hundred other things that someone had decided only she could deal with, and Shepard was definitely ready to see the end of that list too. Taking a deep breath, she walked across the Mess to her quarters to make her report to Anderson. Kaidan was at his station, but he just gave her a nod. As she stepped into her quarters, Shepard heard Liara call to her from the MedBay door. She prepared to turn back, but then heard Kaidan say, "Liara, I think Anderson is waiting for the after action report. I'll make sure that the commander contacts you as soon as she...."

The door slid shut. Thank you, Kaidan, she thought. Anderson was indeed waiting. His face was grim when his image came up on the holo.

"The mission is complete, sir," Shepard said. "We took out the main Cerberus base and retrieved some encrypted data from their computer system. We also have samples from their test subjects and suit-cam records."

Anderson nodded. "Come to the Citadel for a full debrief. I'll be waiting for you in Udina's office."

Shepard saluted. Anderson closed the connection. Going back to the Citadel - while it would delay chipping items off the ever-growing list of things that needed to be done - would give them an opportunity to restock the ship's stores. Also, Shepard thought that Garrus probably had a lot of contacts on the Citadel. Maybe he would know someone who would be able to help them finally start tracking down the scientists from the freighter. The Citadel also meant more scrutiny. She'd need to wear her dress uniform. Planning, Shepard headed up to the CIC.

When she reached the galaxy map, Joker announced that a communication was coming in for her. It was some guy who claimed that he wanted the information for the Shadow Broker, and that Kahoku had made a deal with him. Anyone who thought she was going to turn over information for a bribe was out of their minds. "The answer is no," she said. The guy started to say something, but Shepard continued, "Joker, close this channel."

"Who is just going to turn over information because someone claims to work for the Shadow Broker?" Shepard grumbled.

Liara, who Shepard hadn't noticed in the CIC, said, "Actually, the Shadow Broker has a fairly fearsome reputation. You'd be surprised at what people will do when they are afraid."

There were times when Liara seemed like a precocious child, but this wasn't one of them. Right now, Shepard completely believed that Liara's mother was one of the fabled asari matriarchs. Shepard selected the Citadel on the galaxy map, noted that it would take four days to get there, and then turned to Liara. "I'm sorry I kept you waiting earlier, doctor. What can I do for you?"

"I have information on that Prothean data disc that you asked me to decode," Liara replied.  
She took a breath to continue when Shepard held up a hand.

"Let's discuss this in my quarters."

 

Liara had to admit that the prospect of being alone with Shepard in the commander's quarters was enough to cause her blood to race. She had heard rumors about Shepard and Vakarian, but it was impossible for her to gauge the veracity of anything humans said. They walked down the stairs together from the CIC. The experience felt almost intimate. It seemed odd to her that they kept this part of the ship so dark. Maybe humans found the darkness soothing.

"I'm going to ask Garrus to join us," Shepard said. "I like to get his input."

Liara paused for a moment on the stairs before entering the Mess area. Maybe the rumors about Shepard and the turian were true after all. Liara tried not to look disappointed.

 

That was her excuse? "I like to get his input"? Shepard hadn't known how to make sure that Garrus was included without calling this an "investigation". So, she'd pretended that she needed her boyfriend's help. Pathetic. What about "he likes to watch me work"? That was worse. And weird. "I need to talk to him later about...." No, that made no sense at all. Thankfully, Liara didn't seem to notice how stupid the reason was. Shepard shook her head. She needed to stop explaining her actions. It was a failing that she had gotten over on the battlefield, but clearly, she still hadn't managed it in dealing with her crew.

Shepard cued her comm. "Vakarian, meet me in my quarters."

 

For once, Garrus wasn't under the Mako when Shepard wanted to see him. He had just bathed and put his armor in the cleaner, which was necessary after the battle on Nepheron. The cleaning cycle didn't take all that long, but it still meant that he was going up to see Shepard in his civvies. He felt kind of weird being out of armor, even though he was in a safe place. The shuttle bay was empty, and Garrus took a moment to enjoy the quiet, with just the thrum of the Normandy's main drive ringing in the empty space. He stood by the elevator, waiting. It occurred to him that in his civvies, he would probably be able to crawl through a maintenance shaft and get up to the Mess faster. Finally, the doors to the elevator opened, and Chief Williams was standing in front of him. Her eyes widened slightly as she examined him. Garrus noticed that her vitals didn't spike the way they used to when they met during her first weeks on the ship. As she passed Garrus, she said, "Damn! Turians have waists that even asari must envy."

"Complimenting my waist, Chief? Are you... hitting on me?" Garrus asked.

She must not have thought that he would hear her. Williams looked back at him with red rising up her neck, her mouth trying to form a reply. Garrus chuckled and twitched a mandible at her, and then the elevator doors slid closed.


	13. In The Palm Of Your Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian make some progress in their investigation.

The door to Shepard's quarters swished open in front of Garrus, revealing Liara and Shepard sitting awkwardly at the table in silence. Shepard's eyes snapped to his and then wandered down his body, taking in his civilian clothing. She stood up, visibly relaxing, and gestured for him to take her seat. Liara just watched Shepard wistfully. Garrus wasn't terribly familiar with human expressions, but asari... asari expressions he knew.

Shepard plopped down on the foot of her bed and said, with an asymmetrical smile, "Damn, Vakarian! We need to get you out of your armor more often."

Really, he didn't need to say anything in response, as immediately after the words left Shepard's mouth, he could see her expression change. He knew she hadn't meant it quite so sexually - at least, he was pretty sure - but the way she flicked her eyes to Liara and her rising blush were just too amusing. He rumbled at her suggestively and then said, "Perhaps we should discuss Liara's business before we get distracted by how much you would like to see me out of my armor."

Liara hadn't actually covered her eyes, but Garrus thought she was well on her way, so he turned to her, ignoring how Shepard's mouth dropped open.

"Doctor?" he said.

Liara, given a chance to escape the increasingly embarrassing situation, quickly began to explain in great detail how she had translated the information on the damaged prothean data disc. While Shepard was an infiltrator with some very nice tech skills, Garrus could see that the technical side of translation wasn't terribly interesting to her. It wasn't much of a surprise then that when Liara paused for a moment, Shepard said, "So what is your translation of this?"

"Oh, right," Liara said, focusing on Shepard again. "Well, as you know, a great deal of data can be stored on a data disc, and even though the majority of the information on this one is inaccessible, the translation is still fairly long."

Liara handed Shepard a data pad. "I've marked the most interesting sections. Basically, it is instructions on how to effectively integrate new species into the Prothean Empire. It mentions "unity" often, as you can see."

"How accurate do you think this translation is?" Garrus asked.

Liara looked offended for just a moment before her face softened. "Well, in truth, it is impossible to know. We don't have a prothean here to ask, of course," she said. "However, while my work is often overlooked because of my age, my translations are still considered by many to be of much higher quality than those from commercial translators or other sources."

 

Shepard paused, looking up from the data pad. "Honestly, it doesn't matter if the translation is accurate. What matters is what the people who had this disc thought it said. Exactly how many different prothean translation programs are there?" Shepard asked. Of course, ever race would have their own, but certainly there couldn't be that many, she thought.

"Well, thousands, at least," Liara said.

"Thousands?"

Liara nodded. "Shepard, most of the major races have been studying the protheans for well over a millennium, some for twice that long. There are a few dozen translation VIs that are actively used, and fewer that are publicly available. However, in theory, someone with a data disc and the right clearance could use any one of countless VIs."

Garrus, with a brushing gesture, said, "The people who had this disc were human, and let's assume they weren't with the Alliance." He looked at Shepard, and she nodded in agreement. "Which VIs would they have had access to?"

"Well, assuming that they weren't getting access in some covert way to a government or corporate translation VI, chances are good that they would have used one of the popular ones that can be purchased on the extranet," Liara said. "If you look towards the end of the data I gave you...."

Shepard scrolled through the data. Liara came over and pointed over her shoulder. Garrus joined them. "Here!" Liara said. "The part that starts with...."

"'Strength comes from uniformity. It is unity to which all should strive.'," Shepard read.

"Right. But I think a more accurate translation," Liara said, looking at her own data pad, "is 'Service creates strength, and shared purpose motivates the central goal.'"

"Uniformity," Shepard said, looking at Garrus with an eyebrow raised.

"It certainly could mean anything, but...." Garrus replied.

"Thank you, Liara," Shepard said, moving towards the door. "I really appreciate the work you have done. Can I leave it to you to register that disc, or whatever it is that needs to be done?"

Liara followed Shepard a little hesitantly. "Yes, of course," she said.

"Now, if you'll excuse us," Shepard said, as the door swished open. There was probably a more polite way to get Liara out of her quarters, but Shepard wasn't interested in polite right now. She was interested in discussing the case with Garrus. The moment Liara stepped outside, Shepard turned back to him. The door shut, and she asked, "Do you think this 'uniformity' has something to do with the experiments they were doing?"

Garrus shrugged in a way that Shepard found surprisingly endearing. "We need to find out more information about the experiments first."

"We're on our way to the Citadel now," Shepard said. "I was hoping that you could use your contacts there to find out something."

 

"I will certainly try," Garrus said, shifting his weight. What if he couldn't find anything? Would Shepard be disappointed in him? His contacts were mostly through C-Sec channels. Still, he would do everything that he could. As he started to search his memory for someone who could help him, Shepard spoke again.

"The encrypted data from Cerberus.... I don't really know what the story is with them. I don't have enough information to know one way or another if they were involved with the scientists on the freighter. However - call me paranoid - I have this feeling that the Alliance may not give me the whole story if they are ever able to decrypt the data. Cerberus was Alliance black ops, after all. Is there any way you could copy it from my hardsuit computer without it looking like it was copied?"

That was something that Garrus could certainly do. It was comforting in a way to know that for once he wasn't treading on unknown ground. He spread his mandibles in a smile and said, "I would be glad to."

Shepard pointed to the case that held her armor. It took only a few minutes for Garrus to bypass the hardsuit's data management programming and copy the encrypted information to his omnitool. "Where do you want me to put it?" he asked.

She scrunched up her face and said, "Fuck. I don't know. Could you keep it? I just told one of the Shadow Broker's agents to fuck off when he asked for it, so be careful with it. At least, this way, I know it is with someone I trust."

Garrus felt a tightness in his chest. Those words from Shepard were so precious to him, they almost hurt. He focused on breathing for a few seconds, and then said, "Speaking of who you can trust, the lock on your door is awful. A vorcha with a datapad could hack through it in less than a minute.

"And?" Shepard asked. "Are you volunteering to fix it?"

Damn right he was! He waited for a moment, tilted his head to one side, then the other, and finally said, "I guess I can find time in my busy schedule to fix your lock."

Laughing, Shepard swatted at Garrus's shoulder. He caught her hand without thinking. Garrus was somewhat stunned to look down and see her hand in his. He held it for just a moment, before letting it go.

Shepard walked over to the door. It opened. "Okay," she said, looking down at her omnitool and entering a code, "I'm authorizing the lock to let you in. You can come by to work on it whenever you have room in your... busy schedule." Then she stuck her tongue out at him.

The gesture was completely foreign to Garrus, but she was smiling, so it was probably good. He hadn't really ever seen her tongue before... at least, not out of her mouth. It was very different from a turian tongue. Fat and pink, but somehow cute. The door was open, and Garrus was uncertain what to do next, so he guessed it was time to make his exit. He said, "Fine! You don't have to point that thing at me. I'll leave."

Shepard looked shocked and then started laughing. Garrus walked past her and could still hear her laughing as the door closed.

Alenko was at his station. Garrus started away from him, and the lieutanant said, "It is about time someone fixed that lock."

Garrus was so surprised that he paused midstep, finally he looked back and tried to give Alenko a friendly nod. He wasn't sure that he had pulled it off. Hopefully, he would have more opportunities to try.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short chapter, but I have half of the next one written, so I'm hoping that I'll have it ready for you soon.


	14. En Route

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Commander Shepard and Garrus Vakarian spend some time together.

Shepard woke with a list of the day's tasks forming in her mind. They had three and a half days before they arrived at the Citadel. This was her chance to catch up on all the paperwork that had fallen through the cracks. While she had given verbal reports to the Council, detailed written versions still had to be assembled, and there was so much information that she needed to look over. Also, there were drills that could be run, additional maintenance, combat sims... Pressley would be glad to get back to some of the routine that had gotten left behind in their race to catch Saren.

Shepard climbed out of bed. She looked at the chair and remembered Garrus sitting in it. And that moment when he caught her hand.... She looked down at the hand. It seemed the same hand it had been for years, slightly bent fingers from a couple of bad breaks that she hadn't bothered to have reset. It was better for holding a rifle than a lover's hand, better for punching. Which reminded her of their sparing and how she had intended to start researching turian culture.

She sat down at her terminal. The basic Alliance overview of turian history and culture was short and dry, but the extranet was full (perhaps even over-full) of reference material. The biological details were also very ... in depth. How mating for life fit in with all the turian porn that was clearly being produced, she wasn't sure. She found herself staring at a spread from Fornax and wondering if the asari dominatrix and bound male turian were actually an old married couple. She helplessly giggled and considered calling Garrus to ask, but decided against it. That page turned out to be one of the more tame ones. Shepard went back to reading about turian military structure. She could look at turian porn while she was on shore leave... not that she planned to do that, certainly, but now wasn't the time. Although, she could not help but wonder what Garrus looked like under his tunic and pants....

It turned out that while the turian military structure was very well documented, it wasn't exciting enough to focus her mind. Turian religion was vague. While she skimmed through sites looking for something interesting, an advertisement caught her eye. It promised "even humans can learn to speak turian with our enlightened training". Okay, it wasn't like she needed to learn turian, but Shepard had noted before that she and Garrus could only communicate via translators. She didn't really even know what the turian language sounded like.

Why not? she thought and clicked on the link.

 

If Shepard hadn't been making her daily rounds to speak with members of the crew, Garrus would have thought that they had left her behind on Nepheron. Well, okay, not really, but most of their communication over the last couple of days consisted of messages sent to his omnitool. While there was a flutter in his chest when he saw a message from her, they were almost all information transfers. She had picked up so much data since the Council sent her off to find Saren, and now she was sitting in her quarters sifting through it. He knew this, because whenever he came by to tinker with her security system, she was sitting on the floor, at the desk, or on the bed surrounded by data pads. She would look up, smile at him, and go back to reading. Then half an hour later, another report would show up in his queue.

There was something about Shepard's smile these days that was different, too. She seemed to have more energy when she looked at him. He couldn't describe what it was exactly, but as he watched her on her rounds from where he was tinkering with the Mako's main gun, he could see that this smile was directly solely at him. Shepard turned from talking with Alenko and Williams about an upgraded weapon maintenance schedule, and her eyes met Garrus's. She got that look again. It wasn't unlike the look of a child with a piece of candied fruit... but without a child's cute little mandibles. Not that he was complaining. She had more than enough attractive characteristics to make up for the lack of mandibles.

Shepard disappeared into the elevator, and Lieutenant Alenko called out, "Hey, Garrus! We're going to set up a shooting range to keep everyone sharp during our time between missions. There's a little pool going to see who is the best shot. You interested?"

Perhaps it was the return to the routine of shipboard life or perhaps Williams's suggestion that Alenko needed to "butt out" - although Garrus was unsure of what that meant - but the lieutenant seemed to have found some of that calm he exhibited on the battlefield on the Normandy as well. Chief Williams had also changed, even going so far as to tell Shepard that she would kiss a turian, although Shepard assured her that the current turian on-board the ship was already spoken for.

"I would be happy to take your credits," Garrus said. "What's the buy-in?"

Garrus's comm interrupted him, and he activated it to hear Shepard's voice in his ear. "Vakarian, can you come up to my quarters?"

"Of course," he replied, adding a sexy rumble that he wasn't sure she could hear.

"Well, it seems," Garrus said, turning to the humans, "that Shepard has saved you again."

As he walked to the elevator, Wrex complained, "Are you pyjacks afraid of taking on a real warrior?"

"No," Williams said, "we just knew that you would definitely be interested. Twenty credits."

Wrex laughed his booming "heh heh heh", and the elevator doors closed.

 

Shepard had abandoned sitting on the bed for pacing when the doors to her quarters slid open. Now that Garrus was standing there, she wasn't so sure that this was a good idea. She couldn't really think of a way to easily get out of it, though, now that she had called him up here. When Garrus tilted his head and started to look more fixedly at her, Shepard realized that she'd been standing there staring at him.

"So, um, have a seat," she said, pointing at a chair.

She waited while he walked over and sat down. To avoid fidgeting, Shepard put her hands behind her back. Garrus sat down, and his mandibles pulled in against his face. Wasn't that an unhappy expression, she wondered. What if he was already in a bad mood? Would he be offended?

"Commander," Garrus asked, "is there a problem?"

It wasn't until he asked that she realized that she was standing ramrod straight with her hands balled into fists behind her back, glaring at him. She took a deep breath, let it out, and said, "I have a little surprise for you, but I'm nervous."

Garrus visibly relaxed, which helped Shepard calm down too.

"You don't need to be nervous," he said. "It's just you and me here."

And he was right. Shepard smiled and said, "Okay, you need to turn off your translator for a second, because I'm not really sure this will work otherwise."

Garrus entered a few commands into his omnitool and then nodded at her. Shepard took a deep breath, but her throat was closing up. For a second, she panicked and then pulled herself together. She forced herself to calm down, took another breath, and pictured the training video from the extranet.

"Hello, Garrus," she said in a wavering series of tones that the program told her was the Turian language.

Garrus's mandibles went slack for a moment, and then he sprang towards her so quickly that she flinched. "Sorry!" he said, taking a step back from where he had been nearly pressed against her. His gloved hands lightly held hers. "How did you learn Turian?"

"I only know two words, Garrus."

He shook his head, turned his translator back on, and Shepard repeated, "I only know two words. Did you understand? Did it sound okay?"

Garrus spread his mandibles in a grin. "Without the subvocal harmony, your speech loses some context...."

Shepard shook her head, and Garrus explained, "The subharmonics would tell which word of similar sounding words you were saying or your social relationship to me or maybe.... None of that matters. It was wonderful! Perfect!"

Garrus stroked her hand with one of his fingers, and Shepard said, without really thinking, "Can I see your hands without the gloves?"

 

For a moment his breath caught in his throat, and Garrus waited for his shock at the perfection of this moment to wear off. He didn't say anything. He didn't dare risk screwing this up. He just peeled off his gloves, dropped them on the table, and held out his hands to her. Shepard ran her hands over his fingers, stroked his lightly-plated palm, and seemed especially fascinated by the gap between his fingers. Garrus tried to control himself, but he still rumbled with pleasure - and perhaps longing, as well - as Shepard explored his hands. She was interested in his talons, but, as before, didn't seem threatened by them.

"Your talons aren't very sharp," she said. "The articles that I read said that they would be sharp."

Garrus said, "I file them down. It is easier when I don't have to worry about shredding everything I work with." Then, realizing what she had said, he flicked a mandible and said, "You were reading articles... about turians? You could have just asked."

Shepard laughed. Thankfully, she finally seemed calmer. "Oh, I plan on asking too, but... well, I didn't know anything. Besides, you'd be shocked at all the research material out there."

"Shocked? Did you just go directly to Fornax? Now, I see what kind of 'cultural research' you were doing." Garrus had seen how Shepard had reacted to turian councilor Sparatus's use of air quotes during her discussion with the Council about Saren, and he decided that this was the time to try them out.

"I can't believe you said that!" Shepard shouted, pushed him back a little, and threw herself at him. Garrus was so surprised that he stumbled backwards and ran into the chair behind him. It wouldn't have been a problem if he hadn't had a human jumping at him, but much like in their sparing match, she caught him off guard, and they ended up in a pile on the floor. Not that he was complaining, although he did wish he had less armor on.

This would have been a good time to continue mocking her, but Garrus didn't want to push Shepard too far and offend her. Instead, before she could scramble up, he asked, "Can I touch your hair?"

"Of course," she said.

Instead of standing up, Shepard rolled off of Garrus, sat on the floor, and started undoing her braid. Her dark brown hair was much longer than that of many humans, and Garrus was shocked at how much of it there was.

"Every once in a while, I think of getting it all cut off. It is is such a pain in the ass, but then I brush it or put it up. My hair is one of the only things about me that is girly."

Garrus didn't really know what to say to this. He wasn't sure what "girly" even was and couldn't judge how attractive Shepard was by human standards. He put out a hand and gently stroked her hair. She closed her eyes and leaned against the bed with her back to Garrus. He ran his hands from the top of her head down her back. She breathed deeply and seemed to relax more. Feeling a little more bold, Garrus lightly ran his talons through her hair. Shepard made a humming noise.

"Is that a good noise?" he asked quietly, leaning forward to speak near her ear.

"Yes, definitely a good noise," Shepard said. She turned back to him and said, "I wish we could do this all night, but I have more work that I should do."

She started to gather up her hair, but Garrus said, "Wait. Teach me to do it."

Shepard laughed and said, "Okay. I can take a few minutes to show you how to braid my hair."

 

The tea on her desk was getting cold, but Shepard continued to play with the small bulb of tea leaves dangling in it. It was going to be bitter when she finally drank it, but at the moment, she just wanted to enjoy this feeling of calm before anything changed. Spending time with Garrus was amazing. He made her happy and calm, and even though nothing every lasted, she was glad to have this time with him. When this mission was finally over, Garrus would go back to C-Sec and probably find a turian female to bond with. She had meant to ask him about bonding and bonding marks but had forgotten. What would it be like to have a relationship that was permanent? No matter what stupid mistakes you made, no matter how awkward you were, no matter how long you were away on missions, that relationship would still be there for you. Shepard couldn't help envy the turian who ended up with Garrus.

She would never find someone as sweet and funny as Garrus. Even with his alien hands, he had still managed to braid her hair. Shepard had been sorry to see him put back on his gloves, but it was kind of special that he only took them off with her. The thought of her father braiding her mother's hair slipped through her mind. What an unbelievable idea. Maybe there was a time when he cared that much about her mother, but Shepard doubted it. No, relationships, at least in her family, were doomed. Her mother had always said as much. It was better just to get back to work.

 

Garrus wanted to be alone, which was pretty much impossible on the Normandy. So instead, he decided to find a place where he could look at the stars.

"Do you mind if I just sit here for a couple of minutes?" Garrus asked Joker a few minutes later, gesturing at the co-pilot's seat.

"Do you promise not to touch anything?" Joker replied.

"Yes."

"Then go ahead."

Garrus sat down. As with the rest of the ship, the seat had been the product of joint Alliance and turian designs, so it was actually possible for him to sit comfortably without having his fringe jammed into the neck rest. The time he had just spent with Shepard was incredible. He wanted... well, he wanted more. Garrus could almost hear his father scolding him for not being satisfied with what he had, but it was impossible to not want to touch her again. Shepard's funny little hands with all those fingers.... He took a deep breath. It was most important to show her that he was interested in spending time with her. Obviously, learning to speak Human would be a start. Also, there was that thing with her hair... braiding. Garrus wondered if there were other designs he could weave. It was a completely human-centric experience. None of the other races in Council space displayed hair in this way.

Joker said something, and the break in the cockpit's hush shook Garrus out of his reverie. He looked at Joker.

"There's a ship out there. A derelict. Think the Commander wants to hear about it?" Joker said, and without waiting for a response, he keyed his comm. "Commander, I'm picking up an abandoned vessel on scans. I thought you might be interested."

"Really? And that's not fair, because I didn't get you anything," she said.

Joker smirked at Garrus and said, "You know, Fornax just released a platinum anniversary edition. I hear it makes the perfect gift. I'm sure you could appreciate that."

"Joker! Are you spying on me?" Shepard asked, and Garrus just shook his head.

"Pf. Why bother?" Joker replied. "I can get you to embarrass yourself without even trying."

There was a strangled noise from the other end of the comm, and then it went silent. Joker turned back to his control panel. Garrus's comm signaled him, and when he activated it, Shepard said, "Vakarian, meet me on the bridge. Joker has found a ship that I want to check out. Also, I'm sending you an interesting file that we picked up on Feros."

"I'll be ready," Garrus said and stood up, turning off his comm. To Joker, he said, "Thanks."

"Hey, you can watch me mock Shepard any time," Joker said without turning around.

What a strange crew Shepard had! Still, Garrus thought they were starting to feel less alien all the time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ta da! Here's the chapter that was the second half of chapter 13. I did a lot of work recently organizing my plans for the story, so I should (hopefully) be able to get writing done more quickly than previously.
> 
> I would also like to thank JRandomHacker (from Reddit) for their help on the turian language. It is a slightly different take on the language than is found in a lot of fanfiction, but I liked their ideas a lot.
> 
> I'm not super comfortable with writing Joker's dialogue yet, so if this seems off, please say so. I appreciate feedback.


	15. Maganlis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard, Vakarian, and Mattocks explore an abandoned research vessel. Plus a little romance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am using turian colony information from this source:  
> http://spiritofredemption.yuku.com/topic/83/OOC-RP-Thread-vol-2?page=65  
> This is not my work. If it is yours and you are unhappy with my use of it, please let me know, and I will make changes.

Shepard double-timed it up to the bridge, as she really wanted to see what was on the ship Joker had reported. Mattocks was just behind her, and Vakarian was already there. He was looking out a viewport and, without looking back at her, said, "It's an old-style turian corvette. I think about a thousand years ago, maybe two, our ships had those fins on the back. That design's been changed."

A thousand years ago, humans didn't even know that the Earth revolved around the sun. Turians had been in space for thousands of years. Shepard understood why there were members of the galactic community who didn't take humans seriously. She noticed that Mattocks was also pensive. Maybe mulling over the same thought. He hardly ever said anything, but Shepard suspected that he had a lot of ideas in his head.

Garrus looked away from the viewport toward Shepard. She gave him kind of a quizzical scowl, wondering how this ship fit in - if at all - with the freighter's scientists. Garrus just shrugged a little. It was clear that he didn't have any idea either. Shepard sighed. She was glad, at least, that she had someone who she could rely on to help figure this out.

"Oh, for fuck's sake! Stop it!" Joker said, "Your mind reading is creepy."

Shepard raised her eyebrow at Vakarian. He spread his mandibles at her and winked in reply.

 

The cargo hold, their point of entry, was completely lightless, so despite the obvious desire for stealth, Shepard ordered the team to turn on weapon-mounted lights. The interior was a soft gray with green stripes dividing the upper and lower sections of the walls. Shepard's matte black armor stood out like a hole in the hull. There were two exits forward, and Shepard signaled the team to move up toward the starboard hatch.

Joker had been continuously scanning the ship since it came into range of their sensors, and he commed Shepard, "Still nothing, Commander."

"Thanks, Joker," Shepard replied. To the others, she said, "Let's take this slowly and cleanly. Keep your eyes open for traps. Check your corners! Are we clear?"

"Clear, ma'am," Mattocks responded.

"Understood, Commander," Garrus rumbled. His eyes swept the room again. All signs pointed to it being just the empty wreck of an old turian corvette. Not knowing what to expect made his plates itch.

"Alright," said Shepard, "I'm running a scan on this hatch. Vakarian, double-check me."

Garrus paused for a moment. That was an unusual request from Shepard, but then again, they were usually on a deadline with a colony to save, someone to catch, or something to uncover before time ran out. Here, they had the luxury of a little time. Garrus brought up his omnitool and began a scan, focusing on the tricks that Shepard might not be aware of. He was constantly impressed by Jane Shepard as a commanding officer. She would charge in when she had to, but here she was asking for help and admitting fallibility in front of her crew - and on an open channel - because she wanted to do things right. That she had chosen him to do the double-check was a nice show of confidence, which he reveled in.

"My scan shows the hatch lock is open, and I detect no signs of electromagnetics or explosives," Shepard said.

"My scans agree", Garrus said.

"Vakarian and I will move out of a direct path from the door, and, Mattocks, fire off a Pull at that door."

They moved, Mattocks ball of twisting energy met the hatch, and the door swung open to reveal darkness beyond.

Shepard stepped up to the hatchway, scanning again with her omnitool. Garrus followed on her six. Her light shown down a dark corridor ahead of them.

"Vakarian," Shepard said, "what can you tell us about this era ship?"

Garrus wasn't exactly sure what she was interested in, so he decided to start with the most relevant information and work outwards from there.

"This ship is from the Unification Wars era. We aren't far from Turian Space here, so it may have been abandoned here - as you can see - probably because of battle damage. The CIC is up one level. There should be an accessway in about 50 meters.

"At the time that the Rocam Outpost had their own ships, the Hierarchy was still letting the colonies fight among themselves. Rocam was a smaller colony, and while they have always had natural resources, they were a target for warlords looking for easy conquests, because the planet was so wild. Here's the access hatch," he said, pausing.

"Let's finish our sweep of this level and then we'll go up," Shepard said.

They moved down the corridor and from empty room to empty room.

In the accessway, as they slowly drifted upward to the next level, Garrus said, "Look at the repairs here on the wall and at that section of patched conduit." He swung his light upwards to point out a burned section of the wall. "Rocam was trying to hold out a little longer, but the end was in sight. Probably not long after this ship was crippled, Galatana Colony assassinated the warlord leading Rocam and tried to integrate them into their supply chain. However, Galatana had to devote a lot of resources to holding the colony, which left them open to attacks by other warlords. In the end, Rocam ended up changing hands several times, costing a disproportionate amount of resources compared to its real value. It was the downfall of at least two warlords. In the end, of course, the Hierarchy brought them all to heel, but not before they had so weakened each other that the task was simple."

"Is that why there are no dialects of the turian language?" Shepard asked. "I thought with so many colonies there would be dialects and other turian languages, but there is only turian."

"The Hierarchy has always really clamped down on language. I don't know all the details, but there was one colony...." 

They reached the top of the accessway found themselves looking out a breech in the hull at a shining starscape with the glowing contours of the Horse Head Nebula in the distance.

"Wow", Mattocks said, his voice so quiet that Garrus almost couldn't hear him. They stood for a moment, looking at the stars. So much had happened since Garrus last looked at the stars like this. It was almost overwhelming.

Mattocks asked, "Do you think this ship has a spirit?"

The question was startling, and Garrus had to think for a moment before he could respond.

He said, "I'm not really the person to ask about turian spiritualism, but think about what it must have been like on this ship."

Shepard said, "They were fighting together for a long time, losing but refusing to give up."

"Exactly," Garrus said. "There was probably a spirit then. Now, though? I don't have an answer to that."

Garrus could see Mattocks nod. He wished he had a better answer, but he dealt better with concrete reality not the gray of spirits.

They turned to the main bridge, emblazoned with the Roscom Outpost insignia with its green stripes and birds. There was a computer terminal here, and Garrus thought that it was the most likely to still have some kind of connection to the ship's computer. While he worked on it, Shepard removed a smaller version of the Roscom Outpost insignia from the back of a chair.

There was no way to access the computer. Garrus said, "I can't get anything from this terminal, but if I can get to the data storage, I can return it to the Hierarchy. They might have someone who can access it."

"Go for it," Shepard said. "We can always use some goodwill from the turians."

Garrus started pulling up deck plates to get to the data stores. Shepard had sat down, while Mattocks had moved off and seemed to be studying the ship.

"Are these green stripes on the insignia the colony markings, like the ones that turians would wear on their faces?" Shepard asked.

"Yes," Garrus replied with a grunt, as he tugged another panel free. "Even today, turians from Roscom wear three vertical green stripes as their colony markings. You won't see many of them on the Citadel, though. Roscom is even hotter than Palaven. That means that the Citadel is a little cold for them."

"When someone from outside the colony marries someone from inside, do they change their markings?" Shepard asked.

Garrus looked up from his work. "Bonding can have complicated political and social implications. It depends on where in the hierarchy of turian society each one is. Families negotiate about that and what colony markings the children will wear."

Shepard fell silent, so Garrus went back to disconnecting cables. It was fairly delicate work, and he tried not to shake the data stores more than necessary.

"When you bond, will your mate wear your colony markings?" Shepard asked.

Garrus felt his stomach twist and tried not to twitch at the question. He wasn't sure what Shepard was getting at. It seemed as though she was circling the subject, instead of going straight for it. That was unusual.

"Honestly," he said, "I have no idea if my mate would want to."

Shepard's face tightened at this answer. "Why not? You would make a wonderful mate!"

That was unexpected. He gently removed the last attachment from the data storage device and held it up for Shepard to see. She straightened, switched to the group comm channel, and said, "We're done here. Let's head back to the ship."

 

As the Normandy swept into dock at the Citadel, Shepard was just finishing up her intentionally short, vague report on the derelict turian corvette:  
"While scanning the planet Maganlis, the Normandy discovered the remains of a damaged research vessel. The recon team found no signs of survivors, but they did bring back a Rocam Outpost insignia."

The door to her quarters swished open, and Garrus stood looking at her. He fidgeted a little. "Good. I wanted to talk to you before we disembark," he said.

Shepard gestured him in.

"Look, everyone on this ship respects you, but on the Citadel, you are a human in an Alliance uniform. If we continue with our... romance in public, well, there could be problems."

Shepard shook her head. "Anyone who has a problem with it can feel free to take the issue up with me."

Her manner seemed to add "and my fist".

Garrus waved a mandible and shook his head. "What about your career?" he asked. "There are plenty of Alliance officers who remember the Relay 314 Incident. You could make enemies."

Of course, he was right. Pressley and Williams weren't the only bigots in the Alliance, although she had to give Ashley - and Pressley also to some degree - credit for being willing to change. Still, she could end up being branded as a disloyal officer who cared more about aliens than humans.

"I will not give in to bigots, Garrus. My relationships are my own business." Shepard paused. "Why? Are you embarrassed to be seen with me?"

She laughed, but it sounded forced. It was obvious to Shepard that she was getting a little too emotionally involved. She cared what Garrus thought. It was a recipe for heartache.

Garrus snarled a little and said something that her translator completely missed. She repeated the sounds out loud, trying to reproduce them as accurately as she could.

Garrus tilted his head and then his mandibles went slack. He shook his head and laughed. "You should probably not repeat that," he said. Then, after a pause, asked, "How were you able to do that?"

"Oh, I set my translator up to let me hear spoken Turian in addition to the translation. It is a little confusing, but I think it is important to hear it. Also, I wrote a little script that shuts off the translation entirely for phrases that are largely untranslatable. That way, I can actually learn by speaking with you. So, what's wrong with what I said?" Shepard asked.

"It was... offensive."

"How offensive?"

"Very offensive," Garrus replied.

Shepard smiled.

"I think I've finally figured you out. You're only interested in porn and swearing," Garrus said.

"Well, I am a soldier," Shepard said.

"True enough."

"Everything is settled, then," Shepard said with a smile. "No one can stand between us now."

As ridiculous as it was, she felt triumphant. Shepard started to organize her gear for shore leave, when Garrus asked, "How interested are you in making our romance seem real?"

Shepard's mind immediately jumped to the bond mark, that bite mark that showed that a turian had a mate. It should have been disturbing, but she thought it was somehow sentimental and sexy. Probably, the "danger" factor was appealing too. "You've got my attention," she said.

"Well, I have scent glands that I could use to mark a lover. It isn't something permanent, but it does tell everyone that you are mine," Garrus said.

Oh, it didn't matter if it was real, hearing those words made her heart hammer in her chest. "Let's do it," Shepard said, somewhat breathlessly.

"I'm going to touch my forehead to yours," Garrus said. "This is, well, an intimate gesture - something that is shared between family, bond mates, someone you really care about."

"That's okay. I care about you," Shepard said. "But if this is so intimate, why are you still wearing _those_?" She pointed at his gloves.

"What?!? Pants? Shepard, you can't just demand that I strip every time I come to your quarters. Well, I guess you are in charge, so maybe you can, but I bet the Alliance has regulations against it."

"No! The gloves!" Shepard choked out.

"I guess I can do that," Garrus said, his voice taking on more of a rumble as he pulled off his gloves.

Garrus bent forward and brought his hand to Shepard's cheek, cupping the side of her face in his wide palm. He gently pressed his forehead to hers. The gesture was as delicate as a kiss. Shepard brought her hand to Garrus's face and gently stroked his mandible.

The moment drew out, and Shepard whispered, "I don't smell anything."

Garrus chuckled. "Run your hand over my fringe."

Shepard reached up and ran her hand along the long, gray plates that made up his fringe. It wasn't flexible and had little ridges, like fingernails sometimes do. She let her fingers slide down to where the plates met and trailed them towards the back of Garrus's head. He made a kind of purring noise deep in his chest.

"Feel good?" she asked.

"Yeah." His voice was so soft that she barely heard him.

Shepard couldn't resist. She started at his forehead and slowly brushed her fingers toward the end of his fringe. He ducked his head so that she could reach all the way. The purring grew louder.

"Okay," Garrus said, taking her hand away from his head. "We should, um, probably stop. So, what does your hand smell like now?"

She brought her hand up to her face, and immediately, she could smell it - that metallic, gun oil, and almost tropical smell that Shepard associated with Garrus. "It smells like you!" she said. After a few more seconds of enjoying it, Shepard wiped her hand off and went back to packing.

"It doesn't take much for turians to be able to smell it," Garrus said.

"Well, then, let's go scandalize the Citadel!" Shepard grabbed her duffel in one hand and Garrus's hand in the other. He barely had time to grab his gloves as she pulled him out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all have a lovely holiday (or have had a lovely holiday). Thank you all so much for your feedback! I really love hearing from you!


	16. The Citadel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A quick visit to the Citadel gets complicated. As always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ward reference: http://apricity.wikia.com/wiki/Aroch_Ward

Garrus could see that someone was waiting for them at the end of the docking tube. Shepard's grip on his hand changed. She saw the person too. He was all for scandalizing the Citadel, but someone who had access to an Alliance docking bay probably was up there in the Alliance hierarchy. It was a typical turian reaction, but he didn't want to cause a scene that could cost Shepard her career. He released her hand, and she reluctantly let him go. He would make it up to her with all the scandal she desired later.

The figure turned out to be a very displeased admiral, and the conversation quickly descended into the fairly standard xenophobic arguments. Shepard handled the admiral well, but her posture gave the distinct impression that she was not pleased. Interestingly, she stood closer to Garrus than usual. In response to the admiral's complaint about turians, she said, "As for turians, let me introduce you to Garrus Vakarian of C-Sec. He headed the investigation into Saren Arterius's attack on Eden Prime and has been instrumental in helping us track Saren down."

The admiral wasn't sure what to make of that, but he did eventually calm down and leave. An even more annoying and xenophobic conversation with a reporter followed. That was down at C-Sec, and Garrus noticed turian heads turning to watch Shepard. Turian scent on a human was definitely getting attention. Shepard was occupied with the reporter, and Garrus could see that she was getting very close to losing her composure. He tapped out a message on his omni-tool, and just as Shepard's jaw muscles were starting to flex and her fists starting to clench and unclench, an enthusiastic young human C-Sec officer came purposefully up to Shepard and said, "Commander Shepard, I'm sorry to interrupt your interview, but I have an urgent matter that requires your presence immediately. Please come with me."

The officer started away, and Shepard excused herself efficiently and followed. The officer led them into a hallway outside the C-Sec offices, and Garrus said, "Thanks, Mac. I owe you."

"Wait," Shepard said, looking confused. "Don't you need my help?"

"Actually, Officer Vakarian said that you needed my help."

Shepard looked at Garrus and then smiled. She turned back to the young officer and said, "Garrus was completely correct. Thank you."

The kid beamed and leaned over towards Garrus. "Do you think I could get her autograph?"

Garrus chuckled. "I'll make sure you do."

"What was that all about?" Shepard asked after the officer had left.

"Mac wants your autograph. I think I can pull some strings to make it happen."

"Oh, really? Pretty confident, aren't you?" Shepard said, her voice low and purring.

Garrus thought that if they were going to cause a scandal, C-Sec wasn't the worst place for it. The darkened room helped set the mood with its blue lights and the beautiful spreading branches of that pink asari tree that was such a feature in the Council chambers. Most of the officers were turian, and as he moved closer to her, they kept their distance. His scent marked her as his, and while it caused other males to keep their distance, it also made her seem even more enthralling to Garrus. He ran his fingers through her hair, and then leaned down to whisper in her ear, "You know you can't resist me."

Of course, it was a bluff, but it felt good to be outrageous. And in public, well, it was kind of fun to have an audience. Shepard even shivered a little and then looked up at him. Her eyes were dark, the pupils wide, and she smelled different. This new smell was wonderful mixed with his marking scent. He ran his gloved hand over her cheek, wishing they were back in her quarters and that he could touch her with nothing between them. Suddenly, she jumped a little and looked down. A volus who was standing quite close to her said, "Oh, pardon me. I thought you were with C-Sec."

Shepard tensed, and her jaw muscles flexed. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her nose.

"Weren't you able to get that officer to help?" Shepard asked, turning away from Garrus. He was impressed how aware of the room she had been. He had noticed the volus complaining to a C-Sec officer but had dismissed the matter as being handled.

"No. I tried to explain. My colleague is trying to kill me, and I thought we were friends," the volus replied.

Shepard questioned the volus, whose name was Jahleed, and found out that his business partner, Chorban, was stalking him. Garrus could tell from the look in Shepard's eyes that she recognized the name, as he did. While the law might frown on scanning the Keepers, Garrus couldn't help but think that two well-meaning scientists who were willing to skirt the law were just what they needed to help decipher the data from the freighter. Of course, it would help if they weren't intent on murdering each other.

Shepard promised Jahleed that she would try to resolve the issue, and with Garrus on her six, they headed down to the wards.

 

This was why Shepard came to the Citadel so rarely. First, Rear Admiral Mikhailovich gave her shit for the turian design of the Normandy, as though she had designed it, and then she ran into Khalisah al-Jilani, who was hard at working pushing her pro-human agenda. Jahleed had broken up a delightfully scandalous moment with Garrus, and then, on the way to talk to Chorban, she and Vakarian ran into Conrad Verner. Yes, he was enthusiastic, but... ugh. Shepard was not a "people person". She could understand being socially awkward, but Verner was a little much. The upside of all this bullshit was that she had met up with Chorban again. Rather than just tell him and Jahleed to play nice, she had convinced them to meet her at their lab to talk over a project.

The lab wasn't on the Presidium. However, the low rent areas of the Citadel weren't a problem for Shepard. She and Vakarian left the rapid transit stop in Aroch Ward near the docks. The area wasn't run down, but it was well used. The lighting was dim, as in the other wards, and there was a constant buzz of traffic around them. Garrus said, "When I worked customs, it was in Aroch Ward, although most non-batarian locals call it Shalta Ward."

"Should I ask why?" Shepard said.

"Nah. Citadel politics. Anyway, this ward has the most commercial traffic, so it isn't surprising that most of the smuggling happens here too. Customs is overworked, everyone wants their goods inspected immediately... you get the picture. If you are looking for some warehouse space, though, this is the place to get it cheap. Space is opening up all the time. That's probably why they are here."

They walked a little further and came to an unmarked doorway that seemed to match the instructions Chorban had given her. Shepard punched a PIN code into the electronic lock, and the door slid open. Beyond was a barely lit hallway filled with boxes. Shepard reached for her pistol, as a door to their left opened. Shepard ducked her head to keep from being blinded by the white light pouring from the doorway. When she looked up, she saw a pristine, if small, lab. It seemed to have been set up in an office with a window that looked out into the blackness of a massive warehouse.

"Oh," Jahleed said, heavy intake of breath audible through his suit's microphone, "you're here."

"What did you want to talk to us about?" Chorban asked, moving away from a machine with several small monitors.

Shepard said, "I have a few samples, some organic, some inorganic, that I would like analyzed. This is official Spectre business, and I am interested in discretion. I'm willing to finish scanning your keepers for no charge and pay you for your work."

Chorban looked relieved, and Jahleed seemed to breathe less laboriously.

"Of course, we would be happy to do business with you," Jahleed said. "I could make up a contract, or...."

The volus might have been a scientist, but he seemed to also have some of the famed volus business sense.

"Or?" Shepard prompted.

"Or you can pay us half when you bring the samples and the remaining half upon delivery of the results," he said. "Of course, without a contract, there is greater risk for us, so the price will be higher."

Shepard had expected that the price would go up the moment the words "official Spectre business" left her mouth. But she wanted the benefit of the Spectre mystique - and threat - in their minds.

"Let's skip the contract," she said. "I'll bring the samples by in a few hours. Will that work for you?"

"Yes," Chorban said. "As soon as possible. We'll start as soon as I've finished with this analysis...."

Already he was turning back to his monitors, lost in thought. Shepard nodded to Jahleed and walked back outside.

"Since we're on the Citadel, I thought that I could take the body of that scientist to C-Sec. I'll tell them that we found it on an abandoned freighter and have an autopsy and ID check done. I don't know if it will solve our mystery, but it will give us more data," Garrus said.

"Makes sense," Shepard answered. "Thanks, Garrus."

Shepard wasn't sure what else to say, and the silence stretched out somewhat uncomfortably. Should she invite him to do something later? Hell, she wasn't even really sure what her plans were or where she would be bunking. She needed to check her finances to see if she could afford some new gear for the crew.

Garrus's omni-tool lit up, as he began typing. "I'm going to get to work on this now. See you around, Shepard," he said and began walking away.

As much as she wanted to spend more time with him, there was so much work to do, so she let him go. Probably someone who was good at relationships would have handled it better, but it was so much easier to focus on work. As always, there was so much work to be done.

 

Having called in a couple of favors, Garrus was able to get C-Sec to send some recruits to pick up the scientist's body from the Normandy and bring it in for testing. He didn't want to just sling it over his shoulder and carry it there. The pathologist said that she'd call when the reports were ready, and so Garrus had gone back to his flat to wait. It had been long enough since he'd been there that he was kind of surprised to see that all of his things still where he had left them. He had thrown the basics into a bag with almost no idea of what he would need when he to join the Normandy. There wasn't much there: a stripped down sniper rifle that needed some calibrations, a glove that he had looked for constantly during his first week aboard the Normandy, and a very very dehydrated piece of fruit that he'd left in the refrigerator next to a couple bottles of rather strong alcohol. He'd been given those by Chellick after he helped shut down that smuggling ring. Garrus knew that he might never get back to the apartment if Saren managed to take down the Normandy, and since he wasn't going to see Shepard tonight because he was an idiot and didn't invite her out to dinner, he popped open one of the bottles. Might as well enjoy them while he could.

It wasn't too long after he opened that bottle that his omni-tool started reporting messages. An Asari C-Sec officer named Laetphia who used to flirt with him sent Garrus a gossip column article about the famous Commander Shepard and her love affair with a turian C-Sec officer. There was even a photo of Garrus and Shepard being scandalous at C-Sec, which appeared to have been taken from a C-Sec security camera. Her message read:  
"I see now why you were never interested. How long has this been going on? Also, it looks like we have a tap on our video network. I've reported it."

A few turians coworkers, a human, and two asari all commented on Garrus's new relationship, and Mac, the officer who helped get Shepard away from al-Jilani before she punched the reporter, sent him a photo of Shepard standing on a beach in very very little clothing. Garrus did a few searches on his terminal to try and find out if it was real. And that was, of course, when the door chimed.

His apartment was small, so he leaned back in his chair and pushed the intercom button. It was Shepard's face that appeared on the little screen. He pushed a button to open the door and then realized that his terminal's monitor was covered with mostly naked pictures of her. He swung around to close the search, but he moved a little too quickly and ended up crashing to the floor at Shepard's feet. He looked up at her. Shepard smiled down at him.

"Smooth, Vakarian," she said.

Garrus picked himself up, at a loss for a witty comeback. However, instead of trying to hide what he was doing and get caught, Garrus decided to take the direct approach. "So, what do you think?" he said, motioning to the screen. "Do you think that the middle one is real? Would an Alliance officer really appear in public like that?"

Shepard looked at the screen and laughed. "Wow! That's one old photo. Where'd you get it?"

"Mac sent it. It seems he's quite a fan," Garrus replied. "Does this mean that you actually wore that?"

"Garrus, it's a bathing suit. It isn't even a really scandalous bathing suit."

"You mean, humans - the race with so many hangups about sex, clothing, and 'fraternization' - go around in public wearing less than that?"

"Well, if we are swimming.... It was shore leave almost ten years ago. It was really hot out, and I was out with my squad. There was absolutely nothing scandalous about it."

"Unlike our encounter in C-Sec," Garrus said, closing the images and opening the gossip column article. He was proud of how smoothly he made that transition.

Shepard looked at it and said, "Is that off a C-Sec security camera? You better have them check the system."

"We're already on it."

"Good," Shepard said. "Oh, and we can celebrate scandalizing the Citadel with dessert!"

She put the bag she had brought onto the refrigerator next to the door. Garrus wasn't the biggest fan of dessert, but the wide smile on Shepard's face made him enthusiastic all the same. She pulled out a container with a nearly black wedge of what Garrus thought was cake (he didn't pay much attention to levo cooking) and a small green box. She handed that box to him.

"I was told that turians don't think of dessert the way many humans do, so I got you this instead," Shepard said.

The green box was heavy for its size. Garrus thought he detected a familiar fruity fragrance, but that couldn't be.... He slipped off a glove and slit open the box with his talon. Inside was a spherical piece of dark blue fruit. The smell alone was amazing. It reminded him so strongly of his mother's kitchen that he had to put down the box for a second.

Shepard's nervous shifting caught his attention, and Garrus realized that she probably had no idea if he liked it.

"This fruit..." Garrus said the name and Shepard recognized it as probably the word that the young female turian at the fruit shop had used. "I haven't had one of these since I came to the Citadel. They are my mother's favorite, and there are always a few - at least, there were - ripening in her kitchen. Thank you so much!"

Garrus cut a thin slice from the fruit and placed it on his tongue. Its flavor spread along his tongue, and the sweet scent filled every breath. He purred a little, and Shepard giggled.

"You haven't even opened your box," Garrus said.

"I was enjoying watching you eat. It is as much fun as eating my cake," Shepard said.

"Really?"

"Well, almost," she said, opening her box. The smell was strong. Shepard's nostrils flared, and her heart rate increased a little. Garrus had to admit that watching her eat was fascinating too.

There was a small utensil that she picked up and used to break off some of the cake. It seemed to have a very dense, sticky texture. Shepard put the utensil in her mouth and pulled it back out through her lips. She groaned a little.

"Totally the way to celebrate," Shepard said.

Garrus's omni-tool chimed, as Shepard ate another bite of cake. It was Chellick. Garrus answered the call.

"Vakarian," the older turian said, "I got the report back on that corpse you brought in about an hour ago. I was waiting for the toxicology report, but when I went to bring up the case about 10 minutes ago, the records were gone."

"What?!" Garrus said. "That sounds like...."

"Yeah. I thought so too, so I went down to the morgue, and...."

"No."

"Yes," Chellick said. "The body was gone."

"Fuck."

"Yeah. I'm sending you all the files I downloaded. I'll look into this, but you had better watch your fringe. If it is like last time, this could cause a lot of trouble before we find out what is going on."

"Thanks, Chellick. I owe you. You know how to reach me if you find anything out."

Shepard was already packing up her cake. "Trouble?" she asked.

"The body from the freighter is gone, and the case has been wiped from C-Sec records," Garrus said, as he downloaded the files Chellick had managed to save to his omni-tool. "Last time this happened, we had some heavy corruption within the ranks. I don't know who is pulling the strings...yet, but someone knows that we are interested."

"Chorban and Jahleed...."

"...could be in trouble," Garrus said, finishing her thought. 

"Let's go!" Shepard said, slinging her bag onto her back.

They rushed out, and Garrus heard the door lock behind them.

 

Shepard followed Garrus through the labyrinth of corridors, walkways, and... was that a Keeper tunnel? He clearly knew the fastest way to get Aroch Ward. Hell, Shepard still got lost sometimes on the Presidium. They ran through an alley that Shepard was sure was a dead end and burst out into Aroch directly across from the entrance to Jahleed and Chorban's lab. Shepard had visited Garrus early in the Citadel's night cycle, and yet Aroch seemed unchanged as they watched the lab for signs of trouble.

After a few minutes, Shepard said, "There may be no point in waiting. Let's go warn them."

Everything was as it had been earlier in the day. Chorban barely noticed their entrance. Jahleed looked up from a datapad and said, "We haven't finished the analysis. It will take at least a few more days. We will contact you." 

Jahleed got up, breathing heavily. "I need to go now," he said.

"We need to talk to you first. Both of you," Garrus said. He was using a more official tone than normal, and Shepard wondered if this was his "C-Sec officer" voice. It was pretty hot. However, she wondered why he was using it now. Jahleed seemed nervous. Was he up to something? Shepard decided to follow Vakarian's lead.

"Do you think we need to take them to C-Sec, Officer?" Shepard asked.

"No," Vakarian said, as Chorban moved closer, "we can talk here."

Garrus loomed over the volus, who kept glancing back at the machine where Chorban was working. Jahleed's breathing was becoming more frantic.

"I need to go," Jahleed said, wheezing.

Chorban, having become wary perhaps after the earlier tiff with his partner, left his work and started to inch toward the door.

Garrus said, "We have reason to believe that a third party may have taken an interest in the samples Commander Shepard brought to you. Have you received any unusual communications?"

"No," Chorban said.

Jahleed nearly shouted, "This is outrageous! I've done nothing! I'm leaving." He tried to push past Garrus. At the same time, Chorban stepped past Shepard toward the door. That was the moment when Chorban's station exploded. Shepard was wearing only light armor, but she had been through enough shit over the years that she had long ago replaced her armor's shields with a serious upgrade.

She was blown back into Chorban and had a glimpse of a secondary explosion near Garrus before the room filled with smoke.

Her armor had automatically closed her helmet when it detected the smoke, but Shepard was still having to fight the after images of the explosions to figure out what was going on. Under her, Chorban was coughing. Taking him outside might expose him to enemy fire, so Shepard pushed herself off of him and felt her way along the wall to the emergency medical supplies case she had seen near the door. Inside, she found a breath mask, which she took back and held over his face until Chorban was able to hold it himself.

Shepard scanned the room. She was surprised that the explosion hadn't blown out the window to the warehouse. Under a pile of debris, she saw Garrus. She caught his eye, and he signaled that he wasn't seriously injured. She didn't see Jahleed. Somewhat stunned but still functioning, she made her way over to the site of the explosion. Her omni-tool scanned the area for explosives. After a minute, it send an all clear signal.

Garrus's sitrep came up shortly after. Jahleed was dead from a suit rupture, Chorban had sustained only minor injuries, and his scans showed no additional explosives. However, since the original explosive hadn't shown up on passive scans, he couldn't guarantee that any additional explosives would be detected.

Shepard sent instructions back for Garrus to see if he could find out anything from the bomb site. Meanwhile, she went searching through the wreckage of the lab for datapads, a terminal, or even Jahleed's omni-tool. Chances were that C-Sec would arrive soon, and she wasn't sure how safe any clues would be if C-Sec picked them up. Of course, she had to remember, Shepard thought as she picked through the wreckage, that with her Spectre authority, she could probably keep C-Sec out entirely. However, being heavy-handed rarely won friends. On the other hand, Garrus was C-Sec. Maybe he could tell them it was already being handled.

 

A ping on his omni-tool alerted Garrus that Shepard had messaged him again. She wanted him to see if he could tell C-Sec that he was already working on the investigation into the bombing. He was confused by that. If they went through C-Sec, they would have to follow C-Sec's rules. She was a Spectre! Why would she want to be hampered by rules when she could just invoke her Spectre authority and do whatever she wanted? She was, however, also his commanding officer, so Garrus put in a call to Chellick.

The other turian's reaction told Garrus that there were problems. Chellick took one look at the screen, shook his head, and closed the connection. A few seconds later, Garrus's omni-tool pinged. The message was from Chellick. It read:  
"Whoever removed the body pulled a lot of strings. If you are around the site of that bombing over in Shalta, get out. It has been reported as a terrorist attack and hostage situation. Specialists are being called in."

Garrus finished his scans of the bomb site as quickly as possible and then moved back to where Chorban was sitting. The salarian seemed to be in shock. They needed to get him out of there. Garrus messaged Shepard with a report on the situation. Time was very limited. Shepard said that she needed just a few more minutes. Garrus asked Chorban where the samples Shepard brought were being stored, and after a moment, the salarian gestured weakly to a cabinet by the door. That was when Chorban seemed to realize how much of his work had probably been lost. He gestured at a ruined workstation frantically, knocking the breath mask away from his face. The smoke started him coughing again.

Getting the samples was important, but he didn't think that Shepard would look favorably on him leaving Chorban to choke, so he went back to him, adjusted the mask, and tried to calm Chorban down. Shepard approached them, and Garrus gestured toward the cabinet, but at that moment, an alarm went off indicating that the outer door had been forced open. Shepard hacked the lock on a door leading from the lab into the attached warehouse and pointed for Garrus to take Chorban and move out. He headed into the lab, and Shepard followed, locking the door behind them. Seconds later, the door to the lab was blown open - why they used explosives, Garrus couldn't guess - and four suited figures stormed into the room. The intense lights of the lab, plus the smoke from the explosions, hopefully blinded the newcomers, and Shepard, Garrus, and Chorban took shelter behind one of the warehouse's huge crates. Shepard readied her weapon and signaled for Garrus to protect Chorban.

When Garrus looked back through the window into the lab, the four figures were retreating. He glanced at Shepard, who was glaring at the four. Suddenly, the entire lab exploded in flames, and unlike the previous explosion, these kept burning. Garrus could see that the transparent material of the window was starting to crack. Shepard signaled that they needed to exit immediately, and they moved from cover to cover with Chorban over Garrus's shoulder and Shepard taking point.

Shepard found a door exiting as far away from the lab as possible. Chorban was starting to struggle, so Garrus put him down. Getting them out unnoticed had taken them so much time that the squad that torched the lab was certainly long gone. He was frustrated, but Garrus was sure that Shepard had her reasons.

"Do either of you have any idea what is going on?" Chorban asked.

Shepard said, "We believe that someone is interested in keeping us from getting any results based on those samples we gave you."

"And Jahleed..." Chorban said.

"He must have planted the explosive," Garrus said. "My scans indicate it was a fairly simple device."

"I got the remains of his omni-tool and some datapads. Chances are we won't be able to find anything in his extranet accounts, but you never know," Shepard said.

"And what about me?" Chorban asked. "You samples nearly got me killed! I'll give you what results I have and take a partial payment, but there's no way I'm doing any more work for you!"

It was always interesting for Garrus to see Shepard turn on her charm. Normally, she was pretty cool and straightforward. However, she had this ability to convince almost anyone when she made the effort.

"Chorban," she said, "I understand how you feel, and you proposal is completely reasonable." She paused there for a moment. "And I have an idea that may benefit both of us. You give us the data you have, and I'll pay you. Then, you go set up a lab someplace safe. I'll send payments, Keeper data, and samples to you by an anonymous third party. You can be safe and finish your work, and I'll get the information I want. What do you say?"

It sounded so reasonable that Garrus couldn't think of any objections for a moment. It seemed that Chorban couldn't either, because he said, "Well, I guess that would be okay...but I expect to be well paid for taking all these risks. Setting up a lab is expensive."

"Oh, you will be," Shepard said, and Garrus wondered where she was going to find the money.

Shepard gave Chorban nearly every credit that she had with her and set up a plan to get him more anonymously. Not only could they not be seen leaving with him, but a wounded salarian would look suspicious, so they helped clean him up and directed him to Dr. Michel's clinic. She owed them and would keep his visit out of the records. By the end of it, Garrus was as frustrated and tired as Shepard looked.

Garrus used all the back ways he knew to keep them out of sight until they were back to his apartment. Shepard hadn't wanted to draw attention to where they had come from. Her paranoia seemed even more justified when he opened the door to his apartment and saw through the doorway that his missing glove had been moved from where he had put it by the terminal. Clearly, someone had been in there while he and Shepard were gone.

 

"There could be...." Shepard started, feeling that jab of adrenaline with the realization that something wasn't right.

"...a bomb. Yeah, I thought that too. Let's just step behind cover, and I'll call C-Sec."

It didn't take long for a group of C-Sec officers, all of whom Garrus knew and trusted, to arrive to scan for explosives and other evidence.

"We should go back to the ship," Garrus told Shepard, after having spoken to the officer in charge. "This is going to take a while, and I know you don't love being on the Citadel. If you like, we could even stop by a shop on the way and pick up some of that chocolate cake for you."

Shepard smiled. Going to the Citadel sucked, but Garrus was like her life-raft. No one else had ever been so chill about all the shit that happened to her... or so willing to make sure that she got to have a little bit of enjoyment. What a clusterfuck the day had been! She hadn't even been able to shoot the assholes who torched the lab. At least, she had managed to convince Chorban to keep helping them, although she had no idea where she was going to get the money for it. They were going to have to strip the armor off every Blue Suns merc that they killed. Whatever. They were going back to the Normandy, and she was totally taking him up on that offer of cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've written pretty much all of the last couple chapters on the subway. I hope they are still making sense.
> 
> Tonight, I sat down and thought, "Should I work some more on that database?" But then, I thought of you and all your supportive comments, and I finished my editing instead. Thanks for reading!


	17. Leads

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Progress at last! But are there too many leads?

"Have you got anything?" Shepard asked, looking up from the pile of datapads in front of her on the little table. "I meant to come down and ask," she said, "but...."

Garrus dismissed the apology with a brushing gesture. Shepard had retreated to her quarters after their return from the Citadel. He knew that she had met with Admiral Anderson concerning Kahoku's death. While she hadn't said anything about the meeting, the Alliance seemed to still want her working for them, as the Normandy had been following up on their requests non-stop.

He had spent his time since their return down at his terminal by the Mako trying to salvage information from Jahleed's damaged omni-tool and already-wiped (as they had expected) extranet accounts.

Both the data from C-Sec and the partial findings from Chorban were interesting, but they hadn't produced any concrete results. Garrus hadn't gotten anything useful until he cross-referenced the work history of the dead scientist from the freighter with Jahleed's message logs (extracted from his service provider with a few references to Shepard's status as a Spectre).

"I've got a name - Nihan Melus," Garrus said. "He worked with the dead scientist a few years ago, and he also sent a message to Jahleed six hours before the explosion."

"There's no chance that we were lucky enough to get the contents of that message," Shepard said, making the statement into a question.

"No, no chance," Garrus said. "I've got some of his work history, birthplace. He's salarian. He has no record at C-Sec, but after what happened recently, that doesn't mean anything."

 

Shepard shook her head. She looked at the data pads. There was so much to do, so many leads. She looked back at Garrus.

"Melus seems to have disappeared two and a half years ago. We aren't dealing with a really professional group, though," Garrus said.

That caught Shepard's attention, and she thought about it for a second. "The bomb," she said, "and the bullshit search of your apartment...."

"Right. They had access to C-Sec, but having Jahleed plant the bomb wasn't the smartest plan. He was obviously unreliable, and if Melus is sending messages, he isn't that well hidden," Garrus said.

"What about the guys who torched the lab? They were all wearing closed helmets, and I didn't see any insignias. Did you?"

"No. I expect they were probably outside contractors. Chellick didn't know who was called in either."

Shepard took a deep breath and blew it out her nose. Maybe she wasn't cut out to be a detective. This was slow and annoying. There were so many other potential leads. It was hard to keep digging at this when other things demanded her attention.

"I'm going to call in some favors to see if I can get some info on Melus. You might want to see if you can get any information through the Spectres," Garrus said.

"Okay," Shepard said, looking back at the data pads. Garrus turned to go, and she realized that she was letting her frustration with work get to her. "Garrus, I really appreciate all the work you've done on this. Without you, this would have gotten lost under a pile of data pads."

Garrus moved closer and touched her shoulder. It felt so good to be touched. Shepard turned toward him and stroked his mandible. Her fingers lingered for a moment before she drew her hand back. She had so much work to do. Shepard knew she should get back to it, but the prospect of spending just another moment with Garrus was too tempting. She reached up and stroked his fringe. Garrus bent down a little, and Shepard went up on her tiptoes to touch her forehead to his. Garrus rumbled at the contact, cupping her cheek and breathing deeply. It was heavenly, but good things never lasted. Shepard broke their contact and went back to work.

During the time that the Normandy was in transit, Shepard still made her rounds to talk to the crew, but other than that, she mainly focused on reports. Every mission generated more of them. The woman on the MSV Worthington, who killed the crew to prevent them from shutting off the life support to her braindead lover; ExoGeni's Dr. Ross, who had to be rescued from the thorian creepers her lab was experimenting on and then who turned on her when Shepard didn't take the offered bribe; and finally a colony of dead bodies and husks thanks to Cerberus and ExoGeni - every mission was a fucked up emotional and ethical mess, and Shepard had to explain it all to the brass.

Shepard had sent a request for information on Melus to the turian that handled procurement for the Spectres, but other than an acknowledgement that he had received her request, she hadn't heard a peep. And so she sat writing reports, filling out requests for provisions, updating the results of their mineral surveys, until her vision began to blur....

Shepard woke to the sound of a datapad clattering to the floor. She stood up and stretched then headed to the cargo bay. If she didn't take a break, she was going to shove the entire pile of datapads out the airlock.

The elevator doors opened. Garrus stood by the Mako's maintenance terminal. Of course, he was awake.

"Do you ever sleep?" Shepard asked.

Garrus gave her what looked like a wink - where had he learned that?!? - and said, "Don't worry. Turians need less sleep than humans. Besides, it takes a lot of time to repair the Mako after your driving."

This was what she had been missing while she was holed up in her quarters. Shepard laughed and playfully kicked Garrus in the...well, it would have been the shin on a human.

"You must have seen plenty of crazy shit during your time in C-Sec. Tell me about one of your cases," she said, just glad to hear his voice.

Garrus took a moment to think and then said, "Well, I remember this salarian geneticist I was sent to investigate. That case was a bit... disturbing. I was tasked with tracking black market trade on the Citadel. Most of it harmless - nothing I needed to pursue - but during my course of investigation, I noticed an increase in trade of body parts: organs, mostly. We usually get a few of those, but not the numbers I was seeing. We weren't sure if there was a new black market lab or if some freak was harvesting organs from citizens."

"So what was it?" Shepard asked.

"Both actually. But it took us a while to figure that out. First, we took a sample and ran DNA tests. The weird thing was, the match led to a turian who was still alive and was very convinced he never lost his liver. After a bit of digging, I discovered this turian worked for Dr. Saleon, the geneticist, so I went to his lab, hoping to find some evidence of cloned organ development...."

Garrus went on to tell the disturbing story of how Saleon had grown organs inside his employees, leaving their bodies filled with the malfunctioning organs he couldn't sell. Shepard was disgusted.

She said, "I hope he got what he deserved."

"That's the worst part. We never caught him."

"What? Why?"

Garrus said, "He ran... blew his lab, grabbed some of his employees, and headed for the nearest space dock. By the time I found out, his ship was already leaving. He threatened to kill his hostages if we tried to stop him. I ordered Citadel defense to shoot him down, but C-Sec headquarters countermanded my orders. They were worried about hostages, worried about civilian casualties if the ship was destroyed so close to the Citadel. I told them the hostages were dead anyway. He'd just use them to make more organs. But they wouldn't listen."

Shepard shook her head, "It's not worth the risk. You pursue the vessel and disable it. That's the best choice."

"They sent the military after him, but he got away just the same," Garrus said. "Yes, they did. I went to Pallin and told him what I thought of him and his policies. He said if I didn't like it, I could quit. I almost did. All they had to do was disable that ship. Stop him from running. Maybe the hostages die, maybe they don't. But at least we stop the bastard responsible for it all."

"Garrus, if you don't care about the fate of those hostages, then you're no better than he is," Shepard said. "You're just a terrorist with a badge." Shepard felt like a bitch lecturing Garrus on morality, but he seemed comfortable endangering civilians. It disturbed her.

"Yeah. Maybe you're right. It doesn't make it any easier, but I see your point. I just wished I could have stopped him. That's all." Garrus sounded frustrated, and she certainly understood that feeling. It always seemed like so much more work to do things the right way. Civilians weren't just numbers or props, though. They had lives, hopes, dreams, families....

"Any idea what happened to Dr. Saleon?" she asked.

"I sent out feelers from time to time, hoping to find something. I thought I'd found him a while back. He'd changed ships and changed his name to Dr. Heart - his idea of a joke, I guess. I told the military, but they weren't convinced it was him. I got the transponder frequency for his new ship, but I just can't get anyone to check it out."

"Fuck, Garrus, why didn't you say so? I'm so tired of reports. Let's go get this guy."

"I was hoping you'd say that. But, Shepard, take me with you when you go. If it is Saleon, I want to be there when you find him."

"Of course. Like I would want anyone else on my six."

One of the benefits of having been born on Earth, Mattocks thought while lifting in the make-shift weight room on the Normandy, even if he hadn't spent that many years on Earth, was that his body seemed more able to retain muscle than those of the kids he had grown up with on Jupiter Mining Station-6. They had been born in low gravity, and while they had given him shit for being different, he could have wiped the floor with any one of them had he had the inclination. He let out his breath as he lifted the resistance bar smoothly, methodically. Sure, they had been agile, but it hadn't taken long for him to get a feel for low-G.

Mattocks began his last series of reps. In about five minutes, Williams would come in, and he would move over to the treadmill. Lt. Alenko would come in a few minutes later, a weak attempt to appear as though he wasn't following Williams. The corner of Mattocks's mouth twitched up into a hint of a smile. Alenko's crush on Shepard had always felt a little off target to him. Williams didn't fit with Alenko philosophically, but his aunt would have said that they had a similar energy flow.

It wasn't that Mattocks was jealous of Alenko and whichever woman he chose, as Mattocks was more than content to admire the lieutenant from a distance. Watching someone beat their head against a door that would never open was painful, though, and Shepard hadn't even noticed Alenko's interest, as far as Mattocks could tell. He had been in the cargo bay talking to Wrex when Shepard, Vakarian, and Tali had returned from the MSV Fedele after dealing with a rogue scientist to close one of Garrus's old cases. Garrus had been pensive, and Shepard seemed disturbed, as she often was after missions these days. Mattocks read all the after action reports, and he could understand why she seemed uncomfortable. However even then, there was a connection between Shepard and Vakarian, and later when Garrus gushed about how much he had learned from her, Mattocks thought that she valued the understanding much more highly than the adoration. Alenko would never have that kind of connection with Shepard.

Mattocks heard the elevator, wiped off the equipment he had been using, and moved to the treadmill. Chief Williams came in with Alenko. Clearly, progress had been made on that front. Perhaps progress had also been made between Shepard and Vakarian, as she took him on every mission now. They were down on Noveria with Liara T'soni right now, having finally gotten a garage pass after turning the whole place upside-down to do so. He wondered what T'soni would find when she met her mother.

Mattocks ran for a while, trying to clear his mind. They had been chasing Saren for quite a while, and he wondered when they were going to catch up. How they were going to catch up....

Williams laughed in a way that wasn't meant for a third party, and Mattocks took it as his cue to leave. He could shower and change and probably still have time to shoot the shit with Wrex before Chief Williams got back to her station.

 

Shepard stepped into her quarters and sank down against the wall. The Council wasn't thrilled that she had let the rachni queen go, even though she still felt it had been the right thing to do and had pointed out the reasons. She owed Alenko one for pointing out that Liara was on the verge of coming apart. Shepard felt that she should have seen the signs, but she was still caught up in the debate in her head with the Council. She had talked with Liara for a while, and while T'soni said that she was fine, it had still been an emotional conversation.

Shepard's relationship with her own mother wasn't fantastic, but watching Benezia die, fighting Saren's control.... Here was a person nearly a thousand years old. All that knowledge and experience lost, and of course, it fell to Shepard to kill her. Shepard wasn't really complaining, though. Better her than Liara. Cerainly, better her than letting Benezia continue to be Saren's puppet.

Dealing with Noveria's political bullshit had taken time they didn't have. Now, Shepard needed to get back to work. She opened her messages on her omnitool and scrolled through them. She had glanced over most of them already and intended to answer soon, but then she spotted one from Garrus. Shepard opened it. Garrus had a lead. A receipt? Why didn't he tell her sooner? How much more time had they wasted? What if they had passed right by their next target and didn't know, because he hadn't bothered to come see her? Shepard felt like screaming.

Shepard opened her comm. "Vakarian, come to my quarters."

Of course, she should have probably phrased it more neutrally. Certainly, when Anderson had called people to his quarters, it had sounded less angry. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She sat there for a couple of minutes, stewing. Beside her, the door to her quarters swished open.

 

Garrus took a second look around Shepard's quarters but still didn't see her. The sound of her breathing came from his right. He craned his neck around the wall and found Shepard sitting on the floor. She gestured sharply for him to enter. Her blood pressure was high, and her mouth tight. These were signs of stress in humans. Sitting on the floor was unusual. Garrus guessed that the unending series of mission was getting to her. He didn't know exactly how to handle that, though.

He stepped inside and offered her a hand. Shepard glared at it but took it after a moment and pulled herself up.

"Why didn't you come right to me about the lead?" she asked. "We've lost so much time already. There are just too many threads to follow."

"We left for Noveria an hour after I sent you that message. Of course, I didn't expect that you would have time in the middle of all that to read your messages, so I planned on coming to see you as soon as we got back and you had had a chance to eat. I'm sorry it took so long to get to you." 

Shepard exhaled, her mouth pulled tight. She looked down. Garrus guessed that she was thinking. He knew better than to interrupt her, but.... Had he been wrong? Maybe he should have come to Shepard immediately, even though she had been in the middle of mission prep. After all, he held no rank here, which meant that he had made a decision outside the chain of command. That was a pretty serious error.

He didn't normally notice, but standing here waiting, with her attention focused elsewhere, Garrus was unexpectedly aware of how much physically larger he was than Shepard. Strangely, though, she was the one who was intimidating. There certainly had been times in C-Sec when he had used his size to intimidate, but Shepard didn't seem to care. He wondered if she even noticed.

Finally, just as he was about to start apologizing again, Shepard's shoulders relaxed. Garrus could see her calming.

"I'm sorry, Garrus," Shepard finally said, "You made the right call. There are just so many leads. I feel like I have to follow every one, because it could be Saren at the other end of one of our leads... or it could just be more idiots from Cerberus. And the scientists from the freighter... who knows where that lead will go."

Garrus relaxed a little. She didn't blame him, but still he had to be more aware and not just assume that she had time to read all his messages. He had noticed that humans, or at least some of them, seemed to view expressing the existence of stress as weakness. Turians were more willing to do what was necessary to blow off steam, he thought. He had screwed up in this instance, not realizing what was going on. For being someone who was supposed to be attuned to Shepard, he was spectacularly unimpressive.

Shepard certainly hadn't needed to apologize, in Garrus's opinion. How could he say that without mentioning stress, though? "We've been tracking down leads for months, and you have made incredible progress," he said. "Without you, the Council wouldn't know about any of this. You are our only hope for stopping Saren, but that means an incredible amount of work for you. I should have come to you directly. I should have made things easier for you, and I didn't. I will try, though, to be someone you can rely on to make your job a little easier. You deserve some help."

Garrus had been staring at his hands. He looked up into Shepard's face and saw her eyes shining. Was it from tears? Was that bad?

"Damn! No one ever has said anything like that to me before. Come here."

Shepard pulled Garrus down and pressed her lips against his mouth plates. Her lips were so soft, so delicate. It was different than the kiss in front of Alenko. First of all, it was on his mouth. While it was bizarre to have her face between his mandibles, it was also incredibly intimate. Her eyes were closed. Garrus closed his eyes and tried to focus on the feeling. He couldn't move his mouth the way she did, but he tried to follow her lead. He wrapped his arms around her and tried brushing his mandibles against her cheeks. She giggled, her breath mingling with his, her body pressing against him. Garrus opened his eyes found her looking up at him. He pulled off his gloves and stroked her hair with his bare hands. She closed her eyes and smiled, leaning her head back into his touch. He continued to stroke her hair until she started to tense, a sign that she was going to return to work. Garrus gently turned her around and started undoing her braid.

"What are you doing?" Shepard asked. She sounded, he thought, confused but not angry.

"I'm going to rebraid your hair. I noticed that some sections had gotten loose, and you kept pushing it out of your face the whole ride back in the Mako. I was sure we were going to die every time you took your hand off the steering grip."

Shepard laughed then held her head still while he carefully wove the strands into a design he had found on the extranet. She was breathing slowly, and her body was relaxed. He and his mate were together, sharing a quiet moment. It was, Garrus thought, without a doubt the single best moment of his life so far.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There are usually slow points in any mystery where the characters are looking for clues. Usually, it is a little boring, but it provides some build-up for the action that follows. I hope that this section hasn't been too boring. I've tried to keep the feel of where the characters are in the main timeline without rehashing the whole story. There is more action coming soon.


	18. Paravin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Garrus finds information that leads the Normandy to the Han system, where they find an ancient space station that might hold the clues they need to finally wrap up this investigation.

It turned out that what Garrus had found after a complicated search was an old shipping manifest for stasis pods and cloning equipment ordered by a N. Mellik. The name wasn't quite the same, and it sounded vaguely turian. However, Garrus had spoken to the turian owner of the medical supply company, and she remembered the order, even though it had been placed months ago, because she had expected a turian. Instead, a nervous salarian had met her crew in an old freighter in the Han system of Gemini Sigma to take delivery. Shepard thought the old freighter could have jumped anywhere from there, since the Han system had a mass relay. However, Garrus had had an answer for that too. He said that the captain had gone pretty slowly towards the mass relay, and the freighter made no move, as though it was waiting for her to leave. Garrus was convinced that Melus had been in the Han system.

Shepard wasn't surprised that - at the moment, at least - it looked like Garrus had been right. They had jumped into the system, scanned a few planets, and found an ancient space station in orbit around the planet Paravin. While it looked abandoned, Tali had scanned the station and found stress fractures that suggested it had been boosted into a higher orbit recently. And so, they were currently in orbit around Paravin. Tali and Adams were working on pulling the station away from the planet's atmosphere without tearing it apart. Shepard had told Garrus and Mattocks to get suited up and was in her quarters doing the same.

She would have been lying if she said that she didn't think about Garrus often. She took him on every mission. Fuck impartiality. Shepard wanted Vakarian backing her up, especially as their mission got more and more complicated. They had gotten word from the Council that a team of salarians on a planet called Virmire might have information on Saren, so once they were done here, the next stop was Virmire. There were problems with the transmission, and the salarians might be in trouble. Shepard took a deep breath and tried to not get ahead of herself. It was easy to get overwhelmed by everything that needed to be done, but right now, she needed to get up to the CIC to see what progress the engineering team had made. Garrus would be there. She laughed and shook her head. Her thoughts always came back to him these days.

 

Garrus stood near Joker, waiting for Shepard and listening to the engineers work over the comm. Their solution to the problem was clever and innovative, although he was pretty sure that the Alliance had never intended the drive core of their state of the art ship to be used in this way. As the thrum of the drive core rose, Garrus noticed Joker twitch.

"They better not break it," Joker said.

In Engineering, Adams hadn't seemed to notice Joker's comments. "Joker, ease us away from the planet a little more", the engineer said.

Shepard walked up behind Joker's chair and asked, "How are things going up here?"

Joker glowered. "The Normandy's drive core wasn't designed to be used as a gravity generator."

Shepard smirked at him. "You are such an old lady. The Normandy's drive core is a gravity generator."

"Technically, but not like this. Laugh now, but you're going to be the one explaining things to the brass if something goes wrong."

Shepard rolled her eyes.

"Commander Shepard," Adams said from the comm, "we've managed to move the station out of Paravin's atmosphere, but this isn't a stable orbit. In less than a week, it will start to decay. I just want you to be aware of the situation."

"Understood, Adams. Vakarian, Mattocks, ready?" Shepard asked.

Garrus hadn't noticed Mattocks's arrival. The man was shockingly quiet for his size. Mattocks rarely spoke, even when he was hanging out in the cargo bay with Wrex. The krogan usually did most of the talking.

"Ready, ma'am," Mattocks said. Garrus gave her a sharp nod. Shepard nodded back and turned toward the docking hatch.

 

The Normandy had briefly pulled close to the ancient space station to transfer the boarding party. Adams's report had indicated that there appeared to be no docking hatches or airlocks, which seemed bizarre, but the station had been derelict for centuries, at least, and others had forced their way inside. Shepard's squad was currently making their way through a jagged hole that had been cut into the side of the station. All Shepard could think was that if this was the best entrance Joker could find, then the station must be in really bad shape.

The team was quiet as they entered. The area inside was completely dark, except for the illumination provided by their weapon-mounted lights. After their experience on the freighter, Shepard wanted to keep a very low profile, so no additional lighting. She had to admit that she had grown somewhat numb to the novelty of exploration. However, as they panned their lights around, Shepard was struck by a feeling of alienness in a way she hadn't been before. It wasn't like seeing a chlorine-yellow sky, fighting a thorian creeper, or, hell, even like kissing a turian. They were standing in what seemed to be a hexagonal tube. Was this a wheel-style space station that was spun to produce gravity? There was no walkway, no seats, no doors - just the hexagonal tube that seemed to twist as it progressed. Strange-looking - Shepard didn't know what to call them - "blocks", maybe, with too many corners were placed at irregular intervals along the tube. They were matte black and, when she examined one closely, she could make out sharp points. Shepard was glad there was no gravity, because there would have been no reasonable place to walk.

"Officer Vakarian," Mattocks said, his soft voice breaking into Shepard's thoughts, "do you have any idea which race built this station?"

"No idea," Garrus said. "Clearly, not one of the Council races. I've never seen a construction style like this before. Tali might know more, though. The quarians have a lot of experience with derelict ships and stations."

"Thank you," Mattocks said, and then all was quiet again.

The station looked large enough from the outside that Shepard didn't want to start cutting her way through walls if they didn't have to. "Let's follow this tube and see where it goes. If it is an outer ring all the way around, it will give us a chance to check out the station and maybe find a door," Shepard said. "If Melus was here, then there has to be some sign of it. Keep your eyes open for anything that seems off. You should have received scanning specs from Tali based on what we found on the freighter, but Melus could have been using this station for storage, transferring the stuff he bought, or ... I don't know.... breeding vorcha. Garrus, do you have any tips for us novice investigators?"

 

Garrus had noticed that Shepard had become less formal with him in front of the crew, but she didn't often call him by his first name on missions. The change this time could be attributed to exhaustion or letting things slide, but that didn't seem to be Shepard's way. Garrus was hoping that she just felt completely comfortable with him. He did go on nearly every mission now, and he was starting to feel that he had a place on the Normandy. Chief Williams had even spoken to him outside of a mission. As for the search, what more was there to say?

"Well, just the really obvious things," Garrus said. "Watch for traps. Avoid touching anything that you don't have to touch. And don't be surprised if the search takes a while. After all, if Melus was here, he was trying to keep his presence hidden."

With that, they began their search, moving slowly down the dark, twisting tube. The colorless walls seemed to absorb light, which made depth perception difficult and gave the tube a strange flatness. Their ten meter sphere of light passed one of the jagged, matte black blocks and then another. It was difficult to tell how long they had been searching. The tube twisted hypnotically, and suddenly Garrus felt vaguely uncomfortable.

 

"Vertigo," Shepard said. Her voice was tight.

"I feel something similar," Officer Vakarian said.

"Me too," Mattocks said. He would have preferred to say something more professional, but he was trying not to vomit. His helmet could detect dangerous liquids and foreign particles and remove them, but it just kept you from inhaling vomit if you blacked out. He really didn't want to spend the rest of the mission smelling puke. Of course, there was always the danger of vertigo in zero-G, but most people in the Alliance adjusted quickly. This feeling was slightly different and certainly more nauseating.

They continued along the corridor and the feeling got worse. A signal flickered on Mattocks's HUD, and as he opened the channel to inform the others, he heard the distinct sounds of Officer Vakarian and Commander Shepard opening comm channels as well. Shepard was the first to speak. "My scanner came up with something for a second there, but now it's gone."

"I saw it too," Vakarian said, quickly followed by Mattocks's own confirmation.

"As much as I hate to say it," Shepard said, "we should stop here and see if we can reacquire the signal."

They turned around and began scanning the tube. For a moment, a signal flickered again on Mattocks's HUD. "There!" he said, freezing in place.

"Without moving," Garrus said, "describe what you are reading, what signals you are sending out, and what you see. I am running an active scan using the parameters Tali provided, I'm reading a weak power source and a very slight movement of particles toward us, which means that atmosphere is escaping from somewhere. I see a blank wall ahead of me illuminated by my light."

Shepard said, "I'm running the same active scan. I have a communication line open to the ship. I am also reading a weak power source, although I missed the particle movement. I think I saw a slight gravitational flux, but it is gone now. And I'm looking at scratch marks on the outer wall that look like something was dragged. I can't tell how old they are."

"If the station was rotated for pseudo-gravity," Vakarian said, "that outer wall would have been the floor."

"My thought too. Mattocks, report," Shepard said.

"I'm running a slightly modified version of Tali's scan that is showing the power source Officer Vakarian described, as well as some kind of small opening in the wall to my left. I'm looking at one of those black boxes with all the corners."

"What kind of modified scan?" Vakarian asked.

"It uses a little bit of biotic power to detect openings," Mattocks said.

He had seen Shepard heading in to Engineering often enough to know that she was definitely interested in new tech. Even as he considered what race could have built this bizarre station, Mattocks wondered how long it would be after they returned from the mission before he found Shepard, and probably Vakarian too, knocking on his door.

"Interesting!" Shepard said, "I'll ask for details later. Now, you are looking at one of the black boxes? Is your light shining on it?"

"Yes," Mattocks replied, "My light is shining on about one-third of it."

Garrus said, "Move your light away from it."

The readings disappeared. Shepard said, "I'm not getting any readings anymore. Move the light back."

This time the readings were more pronounced. "And with all three of us...," Shepard said, as she moved towards Mattocks.

Garrus joined her, and with their combined lights shining on the irregularly shaped black box, a hatch irised open in the station's inner wall.

"Why do you think none of the other boxes opened doors?" Garrus asked.

"Maybe it is related to the vertigo," Shepard said. "This was the first place that I felt it, and we're already about halfway around the station's outer corridor. I'd like to finish searching it, but I hate to waste time. Let's see what's in there."

 

Beyond the hatch, which closed quickly behind them, there was another colorless tube that led to an intersection. The power source that they had all read, although it was quite weak, seemed to be off to the left. Not reading anything ahead or to the right, Shepard took the left-hand tube, which ran in a much tighter circle than the outer one. She had Garrus watch their flank, as this crazy station with its hidden doors could house... something... that could come after them, although she thought it was probably unlikely. A few meters in on the left, they came to their first room. The entry hatch was badly damaged, blown apart from the inside. The room, walls slightly charred, was empty. Through a tear in the ceiling, the planet Paravin shown.

They continued down the corridor, finding it blocked by debris. The group turned around and headed past the door and down the righthand passage. It was blocked almost immediately by debris, which looked very similar - even down to the placement of twisted metal - to the blockage in the corridor behind them.

"Something isn't right here," Garrus said. "The scans showed particles moving out of this section, but it is open to space in that room. There shouldn't be anything to move the particles."

"I suppose they could have been drifting in the vacuum, but you are right that it seems odd. And these blockages look almost like they were manufactured. Do you think this area was pressurized?" Shepard asked.

"I think we should go back and look at that room," Garrus said.

Back at the torn-open entrance to the charred room, Shepard shown her light in and then inspected the remains of the door before stepping inside. The room was roughly spherical, although debris on the floor formed a platform of sorts for her to stand on.

"There's some metal plates," she said to Garrus, pointing her light at the floor.

"Could have been squatters," Garrus said. Shepard didn't think he sounded convinced.

She looked more closely at the floor. "They've been welded into place."

Shepard turned her light upward toward the tear in the ceiling. Paravin - bright and rocky - shown in. Shepard knew she was too short to reach the tear with her pistol, so she pulled her sniper rifle off her back and extended it up toward the gash. The barrel slid into the opening, and Shepard felt somewhat foolish until she felt the barrel click against something.

"There's something there," Shepard said to the others. She ran a scan with her omnitool, and while it was hard to pick out exactly what was blocking the opening, it clearly had been put there on purpose.

"I think it's some kind of polymer, but it seems obvious that someone put it here to give this station the look of being in much worse shape than it is."

"Agreed," Garrus said. "Not bad for an amateur detective."

Shepard huffed out a short laugh and said, "Come on. Let's see what is down that last section of hallway."

 

The squad made their way down the hallway opposite the hatchway. The corridor wasn't especially long and ended in another wall of debris. On their left was a hatch. Unlike the one they had come through, it didn't iris open in the middle, but instead slid open, like the hatches they were used to from Council race ships and stations. Garrus didn't feel the need to point out how obviously out of place this was. Shepard probably noticed the difference as soon as she saw it. On top of that, the lock was pretty much the same kind that they routinely faced on missions. This station had been chosen not to attract attention, but whoever used it had gotten sloppy.

Shepard hacked the lock with the skill born of practice. The door slid open. Immediately, Garrus's omnitool lit up with sensor readings. The power source that they had read was in this room. 

"Normandy," Shepard said, "we have found that power source. We are going to step into the room where it is located. It is likely shielded, although my booster might be enough to stay in contact. We will do a sweep and report back 5 minutes from ... now. If you don't hear from us in ten, send the alternate squad using the instructions I provided. Keep running scans on this area. I don't want anyone sneaking up on us."

"Got it, Commander," Joker answered.

Shepard stepped into the room, and the other two followed. Her flashlight traced a careful search pattern on the floor, walls, and ceiling. The room was empty. Completely.

"Garrus, see if you can get the lights working," she said.

"On it," he said, activating his omnitool. The electrical system here, unlike what they had found in the outer portion of the station, was absolutely conventional. Within 30 seconds, he had bypassed the minimal security and activated the lights.

The lights came on, illuminating a large white room. Garrus felt for a moment like he was back at C-Sec. Getting to the crime scene after everything had been cleaned out wasn't exactly an unusual occurrence. He had done it so many times that he had a procedure.

Garrus opened communications with the others and said, "My standard procedure in this situation is to start with a complete, detailed scan of the area."

"If you have a standard procedure, then you are way ahead of me," Shepard said. "Officer Vakarian, I'm officially putting you in charge of investigating this area. See? No one can say that I never delegate."

Garrus flared his mandibles. "Okay," he said, "let's scan this whole sealed off section. I'll take the corridor and that exploded room. Mattocks, I'm assigning you to scan this room. Shepard, take the lock and see if you can get access logs from it. You might only be able to get the last few entries, but there is often something on those locks if they are the kind that can lock you out after a failed attempt."

It took the better part of an hour for them to scan the rooms. Garrus didn't find anything of interest in the hallway, but the charred room had trace signs of biological material. Most of it had been burned beyond recognition, but whoever had tried to make the room look "inconspicuous" had at the same time made cleaning more difficult. The stacked metal plates that made up the floor were welded into place and couldn't be moved for cleaning. Garrus carefully slid a probe between the plates and removed what his omnitool said was a blood sample. It was nearly black, and the readings were odd enough that he wasn't able to determine what type of blood it was.

When he finally returned to the large white room, Shepard and Mattocks were standing near the generator, talking. Shepard turned and said,"I was only able to get entry records for our entry and the one before that from the lock. It was from the same day as the attack on Jahleed and Chorban. There's a bit of evidence for you." Her voice was brighter than he had heard it in a while, and Garrus wondered if she was enjoying being able to use her tech skills... or perhaps she was enjoying being able to delegate. He was certainly interested to hear this bit of information. He supposed that she could just be pleased about the progress in the investigation.

"Mattocks has found something here," Shepard continued.

"The readings were partially masked by the generator," Mattocks said. "I think it is an optical recording device. It is very small and well hidden, though. I didn't try to remove it."

Garrus felt a moment of elation. Were they finally getting a break? Was this camera going to finally show them what was going on? He walked over and looked up at the spot where the camera was hidden. His omnitool barely detected it, even at this range. There was a good chance that he could remove it without damaging it, but if something went wrong, they could lose the best chance they had gotten so far for figuring this out.

"We should get Tali to retrieve this. Quarians are famous for their ability to salvage tech, and we know that Tali is exceptionally good at it," Garrus said. "See? I can delegate too."

Shepard laughed and switched her comm channel to the Normandy. "Normandy, this is Commander Shepard. I have a bit of tech for Tali to retrieve. Please send her and Alenko over. I'm transmitting a map to our location now."

"Aye, Commander," Joker said. "And, uh, Commander, I've picked up something very small at Paravin's L2 point. It could be worth checking out."

"Good job, Joker," Shepard replied. "Vakarian and I on our way back." She turned to Mattocks. "Mattocks, stay here and wait for Alenko and Tali. Once they have retrieved the camera, turn out the lights, and return to the Normandy."

"Aye aye, ma'am," Mattocks said, as Shepard turned to go.

 

On the Normandy's bridge, Shepard couldn't help but feel thankful that something was finally going right. She had trusted Garrus's instincts, and he had been correct. They had a name, and soon they might even have some video. 

"Let's go see what's at that Lagrange point, Joker," Shepard said.

Maybe they would be able to wrap up this mystery soon. She could present her findings to the Council, proving that she was able to complete a sensitive mission without causing a diplomatic incident. Then, she could finally devote all of her energy... she snuck a glance at Vakarian and changed that to "the vast majority of her energy"... to tracking down Saren.

"Commander," Joker said, "it looks like a body floating out there."

Oh, fuck, Shepard thought. If there was a way for something to go FUBAR, it would. Of course. And she had a bad feeling that this is exactly what had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's a miracle! I finished this chapter! Yay!!!!
> 
> I'm so sorry it has taken so long. My summer has been crazy. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to focus better on writing now. We'll see what happens. As always, I really really appreciate that you all read what I write. It definitely inspires me. Thank you!!!!


	19. The Body At L2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Normandy crew works on new information from the ancient space station. Also, things heat up for Shepard and Garrus.

Shepard stood on the bridge of the Normandy behind Joker's chair. They had returned from the ancient alien space station after Joker had commed that he had spotted something floating nearby. Garrus was really hoping that it was something that would help with their investigation.

"Commander, it looks from the scans like a body floating out there," Joker said.

Garrus relaxed his mandibles slightly. A body, while perhaps not as good a live prisoner who could be interrogated, was likely to present them with more information than if it had been just a discarded shipping container or a piece of metal from the station.

"L2 isn't stable," Shepard said, "so that means that the body couldn't have been there for long. When Tali comes back, I'll ask her to calculate how long something would likely stay there. How did it get there?"

"It could have been blown out of one of the holes in the station, if some idiot tried to pressurize it," Joker said. "It isn't like the station is in great shape."

Garrus said, "The part that was in use is pretty far away from the point where we entered. I think we would have seen more evidence of a body impacting or being dragged along the walls, if that had happened. There was no airlock, though, so they would have been using a force field."

"The hallway could have acted as an airlock, I suppose," Shepard said. "Anyway, we'll have a lot better idea what happened when we examine the body. We might as well go get it as soon as the team on the station gets back. I've got a lot of reports to do, and we need to head to Virmire, so there is no point in waiting. Joker, how close can you get us? I'm not a fan of extended space walks."

Garrus wondered what kind of sarcastic comment Joker would make in response to Shepard's admission of discomfort, but the pilot just said, "Lucky for you, I'm a damn good pilot. I can get you close enough that you won't even have to unclip your tether."

"You're not just a damn good pilot," Shepard said with a smile. "You are the best. Thanks." She put her hand on his shoulder briefly and then turned to Garrus.

"Come on. Let's get everything we need to collect that body," Shepard said.

"Be careful!" Joker said to their retreating backs. "You two are never apart. People might mistake you for an old married couple."

"I'm okay with that," Shepard called back, and Garrus nearly ran into a crewman.

 

"Commander, Tali and the rest of the boarding party have returned," Joker said over the comm.

"Thanks, Joker," Shepard said from Med Bay, where she and Garrus were getting supplies. "Take us over to the pickup point."

Shepard wondered if it had been okay to have Alenko over on the space station. Was she spreading information around too much? At the time, she had been more concerned with Tali's safety and hadn't really thought about keeping any information hidden. She sighed, knowing that she sucked at espionage. On the other hand, Alenko had been on the freighter. He hadn't seen much, but he still knew that something had been going on there. Shepard shrugged and finished packing the supplies into a bag. Alenko hadn't done anything to show that he wasn't trustworthy. Perhaps she needed to give her crew the benefit of the doubt.

 

Joker switched to the readout from the long-range scan, while still keeping one eye on the Normandy's external video feed. The Commander and Vakarian were maneuvering slowly into a position to intercept the spinning body. He held the Normandy steady, not letting her drift. Over the comm, Joker listened to their discussion about the results of their close range scans. Under all her ass kicking, Shepard was a geek at heart, while Garrus was still a cop. Her turian was out there talking about how to scan the microgravity around the body as though it was a crime scene. Of course, Shepard was eating it up.

Seeing Shepard and Vakarian floating in space really brought back that crazy-ass pickup that he had pulled off after the freighter blew up over Juntauma. He had tried to cut the Normandy's forward thrust enough to get them aboard safely, while still making sure that they were picked up as quickly as possible, since they were so exposed. Still, Shepard had been injured pretty badly, and Joker couldn't blame anyone but himself for that. Well, of course, he could blame the assholes who blew up the freighter in the first place, but he was supposed to be her pilot. He would have to do better.

_I wonder if she is scared,_ he thought, looking out at the pair, loading the dead body into a bag as carefully as possible. Zero G was both a blessing and a curse for him. His body was free from a lot of the constraints of his disease in freefall, but there was the downside of bone density loss and possibly bumping into something too hard. He didn't spend much time in freefall these days.

All he had known of the Commander before this mission was Alliance gossip, plus the news stories. Joker hadn't heard any rumors about her dating, and he had to wonder what the response would be if word got out that she was involved with a turian. He didn't think that she would give a fuck, obviously, but it would take a lot of spin to make this look good to the human public. And what would the turians think of it? Granted, they had had centuries - if not millennia - of turians banging hot, blue chicks, so maybe a turian banging a hot, dark beige chick wouldn't be all that shocking.

"Joker, we're coming back in," Shepard said over the comm.

"Acknowledged," he responded.

While Garrus had a stick up his ass, he wasn't a bad guy. Maybe after Shepard took down Saren, the spinmeisters would be able to make them into romantic heroes. Joker hoped that it would work out, for Shepard's sake.

The entryway hatch slid open. Shepard came in first with Vakarian following, carrying a bag. Even though it was completely opaque, it was still pretty obvious that there was a frozen body inside. Joker felt a little bit creeped out by the calm way that Vakarian was carrying it. Hell, he probably had carried bodies around before. Shepard turned Joker's direction, with her helmet under her arm like she was right out of a fucking recruitment poster, and said, "Joker, set a course for Virmire. I'll check in later to find out the ETA."

"Aye, Commander," he said.

She turned and headed back towards the galaxy map. They were probably going to take the body to Med Bay. As he watched them head that way on the ship's internal sensors, Joker set the course and powered up the Normandy for the approach to the mass relay. He always loved this part.

 

Shepard had already departed Med Bay to check up on Tali's progress with the video device, leaving Garrus and Dr. Chakwas to do the autopsy. As with other parts of the investigation, autopsies were slow and focused on minute details. Garrus guessed that Shepard would probably find the routine parts boring. Dr. Chakwas, however, seemed almost excited about the prospect.

"I haven't done an autopsy since medical school," she said with enthusiasm. "Let's start with a visual inspection of the body, then we can move on to an internal scan. I don't want to let the body defrost, if we can help it. We'll get a better idea of the victim's condition if the organs don't shift due to thawing. If you actually want me to cut the body open, though, that will be another story."

"I'll leave that decision up to you, Doctor. I'm mainly interested in cause of death and any physical evidence we can retrieve from the body. If we can find out more about this person without cutting, I'm fine with that," Garrus replied.

Chakwas nodded and then turned her attention to the bag. Garrus had left it on one of the examination tables, which had been set to keep the body frozen. This made the area around the table fairly chilly, and Garrus surreptitiously turned up the heat in his armor. Humans seemed to prefer cooler temperatures than turians, which was one of the reasons he often wore armor around the ship. Chakwas didn't seem to notice the cold. She released the seal on the bag and peeled it open to reveal the body inside.

Turning on her omnitool for recording, Dr. Chakwas said, "My name is Doctor Karin Chakwas. I'm starting a visual examination of the body that Commander Shepard and C-Sec Officer Garrus Vakarian retrieved from the Lagrange 2 point of Paravin in the Han System of Gemini Sigma. I'm being assisted by Officer Vakarian. The body was found unprotected in open space and is frozen. It is currently being kept cool on an examination table in the SSV Normandy's Med Bay."

Dr. Chakwas continued with a very detailed description of how she had uncovered the body, what it looked like, and all the minutia which Garrus had come to expect of an autopsy. However, the most important piece of information to him was that the body was that of a male salarian. Was it Nihan Melus? How did he die? Garrus had to work to keep himself from pacing while he waited for the doctor to continue her examination of the body. He could understand why Shepard hadn't stayed for this.

 

The Normandy's drive core, surrounded by almost liquid swirls of blue and deep violet light, never failed to touch Shepard with its technological brilliance. Walking down the ramp into engineering, she felt the core's power wash over her. Tali was at her station, clearly engaged in her work. Shepard couldn't hear what the quarian was saying, but the flickering light of her mask indicated that she was talking.

Once closer, Shepard heard Tali muttering, "Come on, you little...."

"Having trouble with the video?" Shepard asked.

"Oh, no," Tali said. "This is some code I'm working on to hack geth. There was no problem with the video. I downloaded it right after I got back on-board. Do you want to see it?"

"Let's wait for Garrus," Shepard replied. "He'll certainly want to see it anyway."

"You two are certainly spending a lot of time together," Tali said, her voice bright and a bit conspiratorial. "It sounds serious."

Shepard felt a burning blush rising up her neck. After a second of embarrassment, she realized with a bit of a shock that she was acting like she had done something wrong. She hadn't violated any Alliance regs, and as a Spectre, she could have sex with whomever she chose. Like an adult. Perhaps it was time to remove her head from her ass and acknowledge that she had feelings for Garrus.

"Fuck, Tali, I don't know. Garrus is too good a guy to end up with someone like me. He'll find a turian mate eventually, and they'll live happily ever after. It isn't going to work out, so why get attached?"

Tali's glowing eyes narrowed behind her mask. "Do you go into all your battles planning to fail?" she asked. "You do know that plenty of beings find mates outside their species, right? Like in 'Fleet and Flotilla'!"

"Never heard of it," Shepard said.

"But it is so popular! And romantic! There's a musical! Well," Tali said, her voice dropping, "I guess humans haven't been part of the galactic community for that long."

"Okay, maybe I'm a little out of touch, but what if he wants kids?"

Tali made a noise and asked, "Have you even asked him?"

No. She hadn't. Shepard had to put up with bullshit from the Council and others who made assumptions about her all the time, and she hated it. And here she was making assumptions about Garrus and what he wanted.

Tali looked at Shepard with her glowing eyes and said, "Maybe he really wants you."

Shepard didn't believe that. Everyone knew that she was married to her work. Garrus certainly knew that she spent all her time buried under a stack of datapads. However, he did seem to enjoy spending time with her, although he could just have been being polite. Fuck. She didn't know, but she did have a lot to think about. Maybe she was wrong about this. She decided that she could at least talk to Garrus about it.

"Well, as wonderful as that would be, I'm not going to put all my hopes on it. We have a better chance of convincing Councillor Sparatus that humans are a valuable part of the galactic community and getting batarians to give up slaving than I do of having a happy relationship," Shepard said. "Still, you are right that I should talk to Garrus. Thank you." She gave Tali an awkward little hug and said, "Now, it is time for me to get back to business."

Shepard checked the time and then activated her comm. "Vakarian, meet me in my quarters for a debriefing when you are done with the autopsy," she said.

Tali turned back to her work. While she might be young, Shepard thought, Tali was also insightful. She was glad the have the quarian on her team. As Shepard turned to go, she cued up the soundtrack for "Fleet and Flotilla" on her omnitool. It wouldn't hurt to learn what the rest of the galaxy thought of interspecies romance and musicals.

 

After standing for so long in the Med Bay with Dr. Chakwas, Garrus was stiff, and his suit was having a hard time fighting off the chill. Still, going to Shepard's quarters, even if it was just to give a report on the autopsy, made his heart pound in his chest. Of course, there was the constant battle he waged against his desire to tell her how he felt and to touch her, to hold her. Now wasn't the time for that, though, as she was under so much stress. The last thing she needed was his personal drama.

When the doors slid open, he found Shepard sitting next to Tali on her bed, the two of them bent over Shepard's omnitool, giggling. _Porn?_ Garrus wondered, but he didn't think so. When Shepard looked up at him, she was only turning a little bit pink on her cheeks, and she was smiling. He was pretty sure that if he had caught her looking at Fornax, she would look more uncomfortable. Garrus was a little bit disappointed that they weren't alone. On the other hand, Shepard socializing with Tali was so much better than Shepard slogging through a pile of reports. He spread his mandibles at her.

Shepard smiled at him and said, "I was listening to some music that Tali recommended, and then I commed her, and...."

"She has never seen 'Fleet and Flotilla'!" Tali said. "Can you believe it? The music is so catchy, though, that she couldn't resist! I knew she would like it! We only watched the first few scenes, so if you want to join us...."

Garrus laughed. Commander Shepard, hero of the Skyllian Blitz, the Alliance's poster girl, was sitting in her bedroom watching "Fleet and Flotilla". Shepard never stopped doing reports and making rounds for even a moment, and here she was watching a sappy movie. Garrus loved it. He owed Tali some really good chocolate, and not just because it was a movie about interspecies romance with a turian love interest. He was so glad to see Shepard taking some time off. However, he wasn't really interested in watching the movie again himself. His favorite vids featured more military strategy and booby-traps.

"I'm just here to give the report on the autopsy," he said.

Shepard nodded and said, "We'll watch the rest soon, Tali. For now, let's take a look at the video from that space station. By the way, was the recording device some kind of ancient alien technology, like the station?"

"Oh, no," Tali said. "You can buy a video recorder like that pretty much anywhere. They are really cheap."

That fit with Garrus's view that the white area of the station was entirely modern, but what were they recording and why? He guessed that whoever was calling the shots wasn't the same person who installed the camera. A cheap, disposable camera pretty much screamed, "I'm trying to do this without anyone knowing."

Garrus said, "Tali, can I get the camera from you when you are done with it?"

Tali nodded and produced a small sealed container from a pocket in her suit. "I thought you would want it, so I brought it when Shepard called," she said.

Garrus took the camera and thanked her. Why couldn't C-Sec be that efficient?

Tali typed a few commands into her omnitool and then pointed to a vid screen on Shepard's wall. "Here is the video."

The screen lit up showing the bright white room aboard the alien space station. A salarian was working there, and Garrus recognized him.

"That's the salarian that Dr. Chakwas just autopsied," he said. "From the partial description I got, that could be Melus."

The bright white room in the video was full of boxes, and the salarian went around putting a few remaining loose items it containers. The audio - just quiet shuffling sounds - came in short bursts, almost too quiet for the camera's microphone. It seemed to Garrus that whatever had been happening on the station was already finished, and they were moving out. He was disappointed that they weren't going to see the equipment in use, as that would give a significantly better idea of what they had been working on. However, the field of view of the camera was pretty wide, and Garrus recognized some of the crates from the shipping manifest.

"Some of the brand names on those crates are for pretty expensive equipment," Tali said. "I can try to get a list of what they had there, based on what's on the boxes and the sizes."

"Thank you, Tali," Shepard said. "We wouldn't be able to do this without you."

Garrus agreed, although he didn't say anything, since Shepard was the one in charge. The video went on this way for a few minutes, but Garrus noticed that the salarians movements became quicker and more uncertain. He checked his omnitool then began to recheck the boxes he just packed. His head snapped around, maybe in response to a sound that the recording didn't pick up. His body jerked up taut, as the door slid open for an elegantly dressed asari, who was followed by two turian mercs.

Shepard let out a low whistle. "Look at that outfit," she said. "That's not something I've seen on the Citadel."

The dress - sheer layers of dark purples and blues mixed with the shimmering black of a starfield - was regal, and even through the grainy video, the asari looked like a goddess. She had an undeniable pull, although Garrus had been around long enough to not trust that kind of charisma. He had seen too many tricked by it.

"Lady Morana," the salarian said with reverence, kneeling before her.

She looked down at him with a sneer, but Garrus thought that there was also a hunger there. The asari made a small gesture with her left hand, and the turian mercs turned and went out. The audio crackled, and their conversation was hard to hear. The salarian was clearly begging, and the asari acted disgusted despite her clear interest. The audio settled down, and the asari said, "Are you sure this is what you want?" Her tone was mocking.

The salarian said, "Yes... oh, please.... I want to be a sacrifice to you... your glory... your power...."

It was disturbing to watch, and Garrus felt his mandibles tighten against his face.

"Very well," the asari said, and she reached down to him and took his face in her hands. His body went rigid, and he let out a strangled cry, before falling limply to the floor. A tremor went through the asari's body, and biotic power surged around her. She stood breathing heavily for a minute before she turned and walked out. The guards entered shortly after the door closed behind her. Garrus noted their mandibles and posture. They weren't horrified or disgusted. This was routine for them. The guards picked up the body and took it out.

Almost as soon as the doors closed, the screen went black and was quickly replaced by a mixed group of sentients removing the boxes. There was some scraping sounds in the audio, but no one in the group spoke. Tali said, "They just keep doing this for about an hour." She increased the playback speed of the video, and the group quickly emptied the room. Another black screen was followed by the door swishing open and white light pouring into the room. The light split into three beams, which executed a standard search pattern, and when the main lights came on, Garrus saw himself working on his omnitool, while Shepard and Mattocks covered him.

"Okay," Shepard said, "We already know what happens next. Tali, did you review it? Nothing unexpected happens after this, right?"

"Right, Commander," Tali said.

"So. I know that humans haven't been around for that long, so can you tell me what the fuck we just saw with that asari?" Shepard's voice rose in volume slightly, and Garrus wondered if she was angry. "That was some creepy shit. Maybe not as creepy as some of the stuff that batarians do to people, but still...."

Garrus shook his head. "I have no idea," he said. "I mean, the manipulation... I've dealt with people before who have gotten pulled in by charismatic swindlers, but I've never heard about asari using melding to kill."

"I haven't either," Tali said.

"Okay," Shepard said, more calm, "Let's see if Liara can shed some light on this."

 

For fuck's sake, Shepard thought after having called Liara to her quarters, this was ridiculous! When Shepard was watching the elegant asari with the death-meld, she had worried that this was going to be yet another case of "humans are so out of touch", which seemed to be true but frustrating. Now, it seemed like either a unique - if creepy - ability or else a deep dark asari secret. Melding with Liara had been less than pleasant, although the circumstances hadn't exactly been relaxed. Anyway, she was going to have to show Liara the video, which meant even more people knew, which meant even more chances for leaks. Garrus didn't seem upset about it, so maybe she was worrying too much. It wasn't like Liara or Tali had given any indication of gossiping about the project, and they had both been working on it for a while. The only leak so far had been from an outside contractor, who had been known to be unreliable. Probably, she needed to trust her crew more. She frowned. She was telling herself that often these days.

Liara entered, looking so young and unsure. Shepard smiled, trying to put the asari at ease, and said, "Liara, we found a hidden vid recorder aboard that space station, and we are wondering if you can help us figure something out."

"Of course, Commander," Liara said, looking somewhat relieved.

"Tali, please show us the relevant portion of the video."

Tali bent over her omnitool and a moment later the screen lit up again with the salarian scientist puttering around the large white room. Shepard had never spent much time with salarians, but this guy seemed just like a girl getting her apartment ready for a big date. She was repulsed by the idea of this as a romantic encounter. Next, the asari and her guards came in. The asari dismissed them. Why did she have them in the first place? She had to know she was meeting this salarian. Was she concerned about a trap or were the bodyguards just there to show her importance? The presence of the camera indicated that there was probably some distrust within the group. Weird.

Shepard watched Liara out of the corner of her eye as the video played. The asari in the video looked young physically like Liara, and her skin was a similar light blue, although the asari in the video had a darker scalp. What really set them apart, though, was the vibe of jaded condescension from the killer asari compared to Liara's bashful naivete. Now that she thought about it, Shepard felt almost guilty showing the video to Liara. On the other hand, Liara wasn't actually a child. Still, she gasped when the Salarian crumpled. Shepard looked forward to hearing what Garrus thought. He would have picked up anything she missed.

 

By the Goddess, what was she supposed to do? Liara tried not to get flustered, but this.... Oh, why was she in this position? If only she wasn't so bad at dealing with people! Why did it have to be one of _them_? The words "Ardat-Yakshi" appeared in her mind, and Liara quickly beat them back down. The asari already were subject to so many salacious rumors. She could just imagine if word got out that asari could kill when they mated. She could feel a blush rising up her neck. Liara looked up from her hands at the others in the room: a human, a quarian, and a turian. Discussing this in front of them wasn't the way to keep a shameful secret hidden. Of course, she wasn't going to lie. Liara took a calming breath, as her mother had taught her, and said, "I have heard legends about asari who kill when they meld, but I didn't know that any of these... beings existed now. This is a very sensitive topic for asari. A great deal of misinformation already surrounds our mating practices, as you know."

Shepard looked serious and nodded. She said, "Don't worry, Liara. We aren't here to judge. We just need to know what is happening in the video. This asari seems dangerous."

Liara relaxed a little. She believed Shepard, and certainly the commander's calm demeanor showed that she would respect this culturally sensitive issue.

"I'm sorry, Shepard. Of course, I trust you. They are called Ardat-Yakshi, and their power to kill is the result of an extremely rare genetic condition. Extremely rare. Because they are so dangerous, Ardat-Yakshi are hunted down and killed, at least in the stories, and they are clever and charismatic."

Garrus made a turian noise of agreement and said, "Look at the way the salarian and those turians look at her. This one clearly has them under her control."

The scrunched up look on Shepard's face was unreadable to Liara. Was it confusion? It was important to Liara that Shepard understand. She said, "Garrus is correct. While Ardat-Yakshi can be very powerful biotics, it is their ability to force their will on others that makes them truly dangerous."

Shepard and Vakarian shared a look, which was also unreadable. Liara felt so out of touch. However, Shepard smiled and said, "Thank you, Liara. That's the information we needed. I really appreciate you helping us with our investigation, and I promise that we will respect the asari desire for discretion when it comes to this matter." Shepard turned to Tali and thanked her too. "If I have any more questions, I'll follow up with you. Thanks again for your help."

And that was it. Liara had expected it to take longer, but she and Tali were already on their way out of Shepard's quarters. Just as Liara was beginning to sort through all the questions queuing up in her brain, Corporal Mattocks approached them. He had never said a single word to her before, and Liara was unsure exactly what to do. He was a very large man with dark beige skin like Shepard's. When he spoke, his voice was quiet and slightly rough.

"Excuse me, Doctor T'soni, Tali. Dr. T'soni, I know you are an archaeologist, and while you specialize in prothean culture, I was wondering if you knew anything about the space station we recently encountered. It was fascinating, but no one I've spoken to so far knows anything about it."

Wow! That was absolutely not what Liara had expected, but of course, she was thrilled to discuss alien artifacts. She could think of a few reference books - available only to the scholarly community - that could be of use in this situation. If that didn't work, she had a friend who might be of assistance....

"Of course, Corporal! I would be more than happy to discuss the space station with you," she said. "Tali, your people often explore ancient space stations and ships. Would you care to join us? We can talk in my office."

Tali was equally thrilled to talk about ships and space stations, and Liara was quite pleased at this social coup, which somewhat made up for her lack of finesse with Shepard. However, as they made their way through the Med Bay, Liara couldn't help wonder if she should notify the matriarchs about an Ardat-Yakshi in Council Space. Her mother would know what to do. A wave of sorrow rolled over her as she thought of her mother, but it was followed by Tali's bubbling conversation, which drew Liara in.

 

The doors slid shut behind Liara and Tali, and Shepard dropped down onto the bed. Garrus thought she looked tired.

"This Ardat-Yakshi business is definitely not the turn I expected this case to take. Spirits!" Garrus said, shaking his head.

"Yeah, um, I have no fucking idea. I mean, we have her name... well, probably it is like her stage name, but that probably gives us something. Also, we obviously have another reason to track this group down. However, the whole thing is creepy."

"At least, this explains why there weren't any signs of violence on the salarian's body during the autopsy," Garrus said. "But, strangely enough, we did find one of Matriarch Dilinaga's writings on a data disc inside the salarian's suit. I'll read through it when we are done, since you'll be busy with reports."

Shepard just shook her head, although she didn't say that he was wrong. Because he wasn't.

"Otherwise, we didn't get a lot of information from the autopsy. The salarian wasn't in great health. He showed signs of stress-based illness. If you think about him being involved with some kind of cult, it kind of makes sense. The manipulation, the paranoia... cults are well known for their high stress social dynamics. Also, we saw signs of a UV dye that is used in tattooing in the salarian's tissue, so after a more thorough search than I would have liked to have been part of, we found a small tattoo that isn't visible under normal conditions. I'll run an image search on it later. That's all we have that's new," Garrus said.

"Do you think you can get anymore from Melus's contacts on the extranet?" Shepard asked.

Garrus hated to admit it, but he had tried everything he could think of. "I'll look again, but I'm not promising anything. Maybe having a genetic sample will help. Dr. Chakwas and I didn't run any searches after the autopsy, because we didn't want to alert anyone that we had found the body. However, we might be able to do it quietly."

"Okay, we'll take a sample to Chorban after we deal with Virmire. Hopefully, it won't take too long," Shepard said.

 

They had a few ideas for what to do next, but Shepard felt frustrated. She was impressed by Garrus's patience. "So, big guy, where is the end of this? In a detective novel, they would be looking for their big break."

Garrus chuckled. "We have a lot of evidence." When Shepard looked at him skeptically, he said, "We do, and eventually we will get them. It just takes time. Look, if you promise to not do too much damage to the Mako on Virmire, I'll talk to Dr. Chakwas about Chorban's analysis from before his lab was destroyed. Combined with the information from Tali's work on the dust samples and the preliminary information from the C-Sec autopsy on the scientist, we should have something to go on. I'll have Liara look into any links between Matriarch Dilinaga's writings and the prothean data disc you found on the freighter, and I'll look into Ardat-Yakshi and 'Lady Morana'. We have enough to figure this out."

Garrus sounded so confident. Of course, he couldn't actually promise that they would get this wrapped up in the next week, but his calm helped Shepard let go of her frustration. She smiled, wishing that all her problems could be made better by a little encouragement from Garrus.

"For the moment, though," Garrus said, "you should rest."

Shepard was going to object, but he started removing his gloves, and her mind immediately started wondering exactly how Garrus was defining "rest". He sat down on the edge of her bed and gestured for her to turn around. She did, of course, wondering if he was really going to.... Yes, he undid her braid, combed his fingers through her hair, massaged her scalp lightly, and then started braiding her hair again. It was so nice, so sweet that Shepard's mind started to wander, and without really considering what she was doing, she said, "Tell me more about turian mating."

Garrus's hands paused for a moment, and then he continued braiding her hair. Shepard wondered if he was doing a very complicated pattern. "Well, turians mate for life. Sometimes, we have arranged marriages, and if you're lucky, the person you end up marrying will also be your bondmate. On the other hand, it doesn't always work out that way. My parents were lucky. What about you? You almost never mention your family."

"My parents got divorced years ago. Relationships just don't work in my family," Shepard said.

"Why are you so sure about that?" Garrus asked.

"I come from a family of strong women," Shepard said. "I'm not ashamed of that. My mom is the XO on the Alliance dreadnought SSV Kilimanjaro. My dad is a scientist. I don't remember them ever being happy together, and they got divorced when I was six. I went through a rebellious phase as a teenager and lived with my dad for a while on Mars when I was 17. The whole time he bitched about my mother, military women, and... well... women in general. I know that not all men resent women who have successful careers, but every time I've been in a relationship, it fell apart, because my partner couldn't deal with my insane schedule. They felt I was more dedicated to my career than to the relationship. And it was true. My mom always says that you have to choose and that Shepard women do better in the Alliance than in relationships. I think she's right."

Garrus had finished the braid and sat behind her running his fingers over her hair and neck. He asked, "What about a relationship with a mate who valued duty? With one who would never leave you?"

That sounded an awful lot like "what if you could mate with a turian?" Was Tali right? Or was Garrus teasing her?

"Don't tease me," Shepard said, her voice quiet.

She was preparing for the retraction or the joke or whatever was coming, Garrus said, "I wouldn't tease you about this."

Garrus gently turned her around and looked into Shepard's eyes with his blue ones. He stroked her face gently, and Shepard leaned toward him. He bent down to her and pressed a kiss to her lips. His mouth plates were warm, and Shepard felt bliss flow through her at the sweet, gentle contact. This was the first time he had initiated a kiss. She reached up and stroked his fringe. Garrus growled in pretty much the sexiest way imaginable, and his chest rumbled. Shepard opened her mouth and touched the tip of her tongue to his mouth plates. Garrus tentatively mirrored her action.

Since she was clearly the one with all the kissing experience, Shepard decided that she should take charge. Rubbing the back of Garrus's neck and the area right under his fringe, she ran her tongue over the edge of his mouth plate and extended it far enough into his mouth to touch his tongue. Just like in battle, Garrus was a quick study. His tongue caressed hers, and his hands stroked her face, her back, her neck. It was impossible not to notice that as good as Garrus was with his hands - and he seemed quite good - his tongue was even more agile. It was drier and thinner, but the texture was smooth, and his taste was a little bitter and a little sweet. It was intriguing, and Shepard wanted more.

A little more of Garrus's agile tongue drove Shepard to wonder what else he could use it for. She wasn't the hugest fan of oral sex, but maybe she had just been missing out. She was starting to think that Garrus could show her a lot of things that she had been missing out on. His hands roamed her arms and moved down to her waist. She continued to touch him, but there wasn't a lot that wasn't covered in armor. She growled a little in frustration and tried to find the catches, but turian designs seemed different than human ones. Garrus moved to help her, and Shepard nicked her tongue on one of his teeth. She growled again at the armor, and Garrus rumbled more, before suddenly pulling away.

"Spirits! I'm sorry! Are you hurt? I should have been more careful," Garrus said, his words tumbling out.

Shepard laughed and said, "You know, I have been wounded worse than that. It's fine. In fact, it is kind of sexy to have a lover who is so dangerous." She could feel a blush rising up her neck. "Did it upset you?"

Garrus waved his mandibles, perhaps nervously, and said, "Uhhh, actually, turians like to bite."

"Not just bonding marks?" Shepard asked, trying not to giggle.

"Not just bonding marks," Garrus said.

Shepard smiled and said, "That's hot!" She meant it too. She was really enjoying this flirting... making out... whatever she had going on with Garrus. The rumble in his chest returned, and he reached for her, in what Shepard was sure was going to be an incredibly sexy kiss. However, he started coughing halfway through the move. The coughing didn't stop, and Shepard started to worry. Really? Was he going to drop dead from a kiss? Fuck. She hated her luck.

Garrus said, catching his breath, "I took my normal antihistamines, but I hadn't expected that you would want to lick the inside of my mouth."

So, he probably wasn't going to die, but they needed to go to the Med Bay. However, even as she got up, Shepard decided to be bold and said, "That isn't the only thing that humans like to lick." She didn't waggle her eyebrows, because that would be too cheesy, but she did look back at Garrus, who had just started to get off the bed. His mandibles were waving a little, and Shepard could see him trying to figure out what she meant. Then, it clicked in his head, and his mandibles went slack. This time, she did giggle.

"You mean.... Really?" he said. He didn't look horrified. Not at all.

Oh, this was so much fun! Why the fuck hadn't she started flustering Garrus before? She gave him a wink and said, "And that's not all."

Garrus's jaw dropped for a moment, and then his coughing started again. Shepard walked out the door with Garrus behind her. She had been such an idiot. Maybe things wouldn't work. Maybe Garrus would eventually want a family and wouldn't want to adopt or would decide that having some kind of obsessed warrior as a mate was horrible - which didn't actually seem likely for any turian - but fuck all that worrying. She had actually been having fun. Fun! For once she wasn't filing reports and worrying about Saren or some crazy Ardat-Yakshi-worshipping cult. Shepard decided to take a little time to enjoy her life by spending it with her tongue in Garrus's mouth. Or other places.

 

It wasn't often that Tali felt that her being a quarian was something that others appreciated. Oh, it wasn't bad on the Normandy, and everyone treated her like a crewmate and respected her engineering skill. However, as she walked out of Liara's room in the Med Bay, she couldn't help but feel that her contributions to the conversation were really valued. Josh Mattocks had a plan to study more about non-human - and especially non-Council race - cultures. He thought that humans were really missing out on the nuances of living in a multi-species galaxy. It was true, but it was really nice to hear a human saying so. As they walked out into the mess, Josh thanked her again. He was a surprisingly thoughtful guy.

Shepard and Garrus passed them, entering the Med bay. Garrus was coughing, and Tali smirked behind her mask. It reminded her of how sick Sarve'er nar Kolepsi got when she filmed the balcony scene in Fleet and Flotilla. Of course, Garrus probably just needed an antihistamine, but that meant that he and Shepard had been doing something steamy. Shepard looked pleased with herself. Tali was so glad. They were her friends, and she wanted them to be happy.

Out in the mess, Kaidan and Ashley were sitting at a table, pretending that they weren't having a relationship. Humans were so strange about that kind of thing. Nonetheless, she wished them well too. They were a cute couple, and Kaidan seemed to be helping Ashley adjust to the non-humans on the crew, while Ashley was helping Kaidan deal with Shepard's style of command.

Tali got into the elevator and went down to the cargo bay. She had to go over the video again to make sure she hadn't missed anything, list all the possible contents of the crates that had been on the station, plus there were a few other projects she was working on. When she first came on-board, Tali had asked Shepard if it was okay to use the Normandy's computer system for her own projects, and the commander had told her to "go for it". Tali rarely had access to so much processing power and such a fast extranet connection.

Tali's omnitool vibrated a little, and she started up the interface, noticing that almost an hour had already passed since she left the Med Bay. The Normandy's mission status update had been posted. She smiled as she read it.

"Scans of Paravin revealed an unmanned station in geosynchronous orbit. The Normandy salvage team found no evidence on the origins of the station, but they did find one of Matriarch Dilinaga's writings on board."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all are still enjoying this. I'm a little concerned that I changed point of view too often, but it seems more interesting to hear from some of the other crew members. I hope it wasn't uncomfortable.


	20. Lockdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After "Bring Down the Sky" and then Virmire, the Normandy ends up locked down on the Citadel. However, the crew makes progress finding out more about the group from the freighter and the alien space station. Shepard and Vakarian have time for intimacy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have changed the rating to "Explicit", because there is sex, and I think it is detailed enough that it probably needs this rating. If you really don't want to read about it, you can skip from the point where Garrus goes to Shepard's quarters to the end of the chapter.

> To: Captain David Anderson  
>  From: Commander Jane Shepard  
>  2183 September 30 22:45:03 UAT  
>  Subject: REQUEST - Alliance follow-up on Balak
> 
> Alliance IAAR Form 6-X02
> 
> 1\. This initial after action report is prepared by Commander Jane Shepard, SSV Normandy.
> 
> 2\. The following is information regarding the incident itself:
> 
> Deployed Location: Asteroid X57, Asgard System, Exodus Cluster
> 
> Deployed COs: Commander Jane Shepard, SSV Normandy
> 
> Duration of Deployment: 2183 September 28 - 2183 September 30
> 
> Purpose of Deployment: In support of Terra Nova
> 
> 3\. Brief description of the incident:  
>  The SSV Normandy was diverted to the Asgard System in the Exodus Cluster. When the Normandy arrived in system, we found the Asteroid X57, propelled by three fusion torches, on a collision course with Terra Nova. Estimates indicated that the asteroid would collide with Terra Nova in four hours. The Normandy deployed a squad in a Mako and received a request for assistance by radio from a later-identified Kate Bowman. The squad encountered batarians on Asteroid X57. Commander Shepard was able to convince one squad of batarians to leave, while also obtaining information about the leader of the batarian mission, Balak. After making contact with the engineers on Asteroid X57 and shutting down the fusion torches, the squad confronted Balak. Balak cited Alliance acquisition of disputed territories and perceived repression of batarians as the motivation behind this attack. He had taken hostages and threatened to kill them if the squad fired on him. Commander Shepard chose to save the hostages, based on the belief that she or the Alliance would be able to catch him later.
> 
> 4\. Casualities:  
>  The squad required medical treatment for minor wounds and motion sickness. There were also a number of civilian casualities, which will be detailed in the complete AAR.
> 
> 5\. Request:  
>  Commander Jane Shepard of the SSV Normandy requests that the Alliance track down Balak.
> 
> 6\. Notes:  
>  A complete AAR will follow within two weeks.
> 
> Commander Jane Shepard  
>  SSV Normandy
> 
> Anderson -  
>  We are finally going to Virmire to follow up a lead there. Hopefully, this isn't another wild goose chase.  
>  \- Shepard

"I can't believe that Ash didn't make it," Lieutenant Alenko said, sitting in the Normandy briefing room, leaning down with his head in his hands. "How could you just leave her down there?" 

It was obvious to Garrus that Alenko was in mourning. Virmire had been hard on everyone. Turians weren't known for handling the death of a mate very well. On the other hand, discipline was drilled into turians, which could keep a soldier from falling apart... at least for the short term. Garrus had seen humans grieve, of course. You couldn't serve on the Normandy for as long as he had without learning a little about human emotions. However, Alenko and Williams had been very close. Garrus hoped that Alenko wasn't going to take out his grief on Shepard, but the conversation seemed to be going that way.

"Williams knew the risks going in. She gave her life to save the rest of us," Shepard said. Her "commander" mask was firmly in place. Garrus expected that she was also grieving.

"Why me?" Alenko asked. "Why not her?"

"It wasn't your call, Alenko. I had to choose. I chose you," Shepard answered. As her back and forth with Alenko continued, Garrus caught on to what she was doing. She was letting Alenko express his grief and anger to help him cope with the loss of Williams. Shepard was firm but patient.

Eventually, Shepard was able to bring Alenko's attention back to Saren, and he said, "Yes, ma'am. We'll get it done. I'm... I'm just going to need some time to process this."

"Take the time you need, Lieutentant," Shepard said.

Now that the conversation with Alenko was over, Liara broke in. "Commander, excuse me for interrupting, but I have an idea. I think the beacon that you found in Saren's base was similar to the one you found on Eden Prime. It may have filled in the missing pieces of your vision. I might be able to help you put all those pieces together."

Shepard said, "You want to join our minds again, don't you? Okay. Go ahead."

While Garrus knew on a logical level that Liara was doing this to help Shepard with her mission, he still felt a twinge of jealousy. To join minds with Shepard... the idea of knowing what your lover was thinking without all the possibility for miscommunication, no worry about their true feelings, no anxiety that they were somehow offended or put off by something you said.... Garrus wanted to be able to be that close with Shepard. However, asari relationships didn't seem that much more stable than any other relationships, so perhaps their powers didn't help that much.

The joining was over in a moment, and Shepard seemed unmoved by the experience. Liara, on the other hand, was having trouble. She was able to come up with some useful information, though. Liara said, "Ilos! The Conduit is on Ilos! That's why Saren needed to find the Mu Relay! It is the only way to get to Ilos."

Shepard had a target now, and Garrus could see her focus in on it. "We need to get to Ilos!" she said, her mouth hard.

"Forget it," Tali said. "The Mu Relay's inside the Terminus Systems. Alliance ships aren't welcome there. Neither are Spectres."

Of course, the wasn't going to stop Shepard. Garrus didn't roll his eyes out of consideration for Tali. He was surprised that she had sounded so sure.

"The Conduit's on Ilos. That's where Saren's heading. I'll be waiting for him when he gets there," Shepard said.

"Saren will have his entire fleet orbiting Ilos," Liara interrupted. "You will never make it down to the surface without reinforcements. You must alert the Council. We need a fleet to...." Liara trailed off, becoming dizzy. She said that the joining had overwhelmed her. Garrus guessed that was to blame for her "you will never make it down to the surface" statement. Shepard was being sent into ridiculous situations all the time without reinforcements. If Liara was thinking clearly, she would have known that.

Shepard sent Liara to Med Bay and dismissed the rest of the crew. Garrus wanted to stay with her, but he thought better of it. They both had work to do, after all.

 

Garrus returned to his station beside the Mako. He could feel that Chief William's station was conspicuously empty. They were on their way to make Saren pay for William's death, which should have been enough solace, but even though Garrus hadn't been close with her, he still grieved. But there, overshadowing grief, was duty, and his duty to Shepard was a stronger pull than anything else. Garrus had been trying to keep his promise to Shepard that with so much information, they would finally be able to track down the cult behind the freighter and the alien space station. He checked his omnitool. It was time again to check on the status of the investigation, so he sent out messages asking Dr. Chakwas, Liara, and Tali for updates.

Dr. Chakwas was working on the biological part, not surprisingly. She was putting together all the biological samples they had for delivery to Chorban. Garrus hadn't even asked Shepard how she planned on getting them to the salarian. If she needed him to know, she would tell him. Until then, the fewer people who knew that the salarian scientist was still alive, the better. Garrus had also given Dr. Chakwas all the partial reports and information that they had come up with, in the hope that she could figure out the genetic side of this. Liara was trying to find some reason why the group would be interested both in the prothean data disc and Matriarch Dilinaga's writings, and Tali was working on the more technical aspects, like analyzing Jahleed's omnitool and dust samples from the freighter. Despite all the problems they had encountered, Garrus was really impressed by the quality of the crew that Shepard had assembled.

Since he was the one with the most experience in criminal investigations, Garrus was responsible for trying to take all their research and make it into something actionable. He was also looking for extranet references to 'Lady Morana', the Ardat-Yakshi, and the UV tattoo that the salarian had. However, he was trying to do it without attracting attention, and that was slowing him down. Well, to be honest, it was that combined with all the missions that he went on with Shepard. He wasn't complaining, though. He wanted to have her back.

As Garrus finished sending out his requests, the elevator started to hum, which meant Shepard was on her way down. He tried to focus on his work while Shepard talked to Wrex, but it was difficult. Of course, he had thought about the time in her quarters quite a bit, and the prospect of spending more time with her was enough to completely derail his focus. On top of that, Garrus had started thinking about some of the things that Shepard had talked to him about and what would happen after the mission was over. He was bonded to Shepard, and he would have to talk to her about that... sometime. However, there were other things too. When she strolled over, Garrus blurted out, "Commander. I wanted to thank you."

"What for, Garrus?" she asked.

"For everything. Taking me with you. Letting me be part of your team. I've learned a lot. I've thought a lot about what you've told me. About not sacrificing innocents to achieve the goal. About finding the best way through, not just the fastest. And I've been thinking about Dr. Saleon too. I'd convinced myself that he deserved to die, but then I started thinking about why I wanted him dead. I realized it wasn't because of what he did to those people. That was part of it, but I think most of it was because he got away from me. He escaped under my watch, and I didn't like that. I let it become personal."

Shepard nodded. "That sounds great, but words mean nothing until you turn them into action, Garrus. What are you going to do about it?"

As soon as she said it, Garrus realized that he shouldn't have been surprised. Shepard challenged him to do better all the time. It was one of the things he loved about her. Of course, a lot of what happened next for him depended on how she reacted when he told her about the bonding. However, the reality was that he couldn't stay on her ship forever, even if she didn't throw him out the moment he told her that he had bonded with her without her consent. He had been thinking this over during all the downtime between missions.

"Well, I'm going back to C-Sec," he said. "I think I can make a difference there." He left out the obvious part about how this would allow them to see each other fairly often. "I'll also reapply for Spectre training. But I'll do it right. I won't compromise myself to get there. If the people I'm sworn to protect can't trust me... well, then I don't deserve to be the one protecting them."

Shepard smiled and reached out her hand to stroke his mandible. He leaned into it, closing his eyes and just enjoying her touch.

"That matters, Garrus," she said. "It really matters. Thank you for telling me."

She looked like she wanted to say more about that, but her eyes drifted over to Chief Williams's station. She dropped her hand and said, "I'll talk to you later." Garrus could see that Williams's death was really weighing on her. At least, she was going to see Tali. Hopefully, the visit would cheer her up.

 

Garrus continued to work, and a few minutes after Shepard had taken the elevator back up, Tali commed Garrus. She sounded even more enthusiastic than usual.

"Garrus! Are you busy? I think I've got it! Finally!"

He heard her voice both over the comm and from the hallway behind him, as Tali was coming up the ramp. She didn't wait for him to respond, she just turned off her comm and said, "Take a look at this!"

Tali held up her omnitool, and Garrus saw a section of the video from the hidden camera on the station. The salarian activated his omnitool, looked at it, shut it off, and went back to puttering around.

"We didn't find an omnitool when we did the autopsy," Garrus said.

"Right," Tali said, "but look at it again."

The salarian turned on his omnitool, swiping his wrist over it in a strange way. The gesture was almost unnoticeable.

"So, you think he's got some kind of key on his wrist? The UV tattoo that we found wasn't there, but that doesn't mean anything. Let's go take a look at the body," Garrus said, heading toward the elevator.

Once in the Medical Bay, Garrus said to Dr. Chakwas, "Doctor, Tali has come up with a lead. We'd like to check the salarian's body."

Chakwas nodded to a cold-storage pod. "Do you need my help?" she asked.

"No," Garrus said, as he watched Tali move toward the pod. "This should be fairly quick."

Tali had the pod open, but getting a look at the inside of the salarian's wrist was a challenge since he was still frozen. Tali was finally able to get an image of the inside of the wrist, but it was blank, which wasn't surprising for someone with a UV tattoo. Getting the UV light into a position where it shone on the wrist without a shadow and still allowed enough space for Tali to get a clear image took a few minutes... tense minutes while they waited to see if they finally had the information they needed. Tali snapped the picture, and they both looked at her omnitool. There was a very small, very finely detailed tattoo. It appeared to be a digital key.

"I bet you 50 credits that this is a decryption key for that data you found on the freighter," Tali said.

"I know better than to take that bet," Garrus said. "Still, I owe you. You've done an amazing job with this."

They took the elevator back down to the cargo bay. Garrus asked Tali to enter the code into his terminal, as he felt that this was her achievement. She scanned in the code from the tattoo, applied it to the encrypted data from the freighter, and gave a little whoop of joy when a batch of decrypted files appeared.

Garrus commed Shepard. "Commander, Tali has successfully decrypted the information from the freighter. We haven't gone through the information yet. I thought you would want to know immediately."

"Thank you, Garrus," Shepard replied. "We've been recalled to the Citadel. I'm not sure if that means we're getting a fleet to go after Saren or not. But, I'll deal with that. I want you to go over the data, pulling in whoever you feel necessary for help. I'm tired of wandering around in the dark. I want to know who these guys are and where they are hiding."

Garrus flared his mandibles. While this news about being recalled to the Citadel didn't sound good, he couldn't help but enjoy both this little victory and Shepard's desire to kick someone's ass. Spirits, it was sexy.

"Will do, Shepard," Garrus said, closing the comm and trying to hide the purr in his chest.

Tali chuckled. "Listen to that rumble. So it is serious. Shepard thought that you were going to run off with the next cute turian who came along. I think she's wrong."

"She's wrong," Garrus said, almost without thinking. He had been holding back his emotions for so long that he felt like he was going to burst, but he took a firm grip on his feelings and shoved them back down. He wasn't going to confess his love for Shepard to Tali. He would tell Shepard first. He looked over a couple of the files. "Thank you again, Tali. It looks like this might be a bunch of philosophical works. I'll go through them and let you know if I need your help. Shepard was right when she said that we couldn't have done this without you."

 

"How did you get stuck working on this?" Tali asked Mattocks, leaning back against the wall in Liara's quarters a few hours later, where she, Liara, and Josh Mattocks were taking a break from sorting through all the decrypted information from the freighter. What had seemed fairly reasonable at first had turned into a huge task when Garrus saw that some of the sub-directories contained thousands of files. The ship had been locked down. When Shepard went to try to do whatever it was she was trying to do with the Council, she had called Garrus for help, and he had put Tali in charge of finding something useful in the files with Liara and the human corporal. The ship was still on lockdown, so whatever they were trying to do hadn't happened yet.

"Garrus asked me if wanted to 'read a couple hundred pages of raving religious and philosophical texts from a murderous cult'. How could I refuse?" Mattocks said, laughing quietly.

"I think he underestimated the number of pages by at least an order of magnitude, Josh," Tali said. She was enjoying spending time with both Josh and Liara, even if it meant reading the most ridiculous theories about how all life was evolving toward a single, perfect life-form, and how this eons-long process could be helped along, bringing everyone closer to perfection, happiness, and universal harmony. They were turning the medical and genetic information over to Dr. Chakwas as they found it, but it seemed that "helping evolution along" involved genetic experimentation and brainwashing. Achieving universal harmony was a cruel process.

The cult had produced a lot of dubious research papers, presumably trying to prove their theories, plus pamphlets targeted at every possible race, including batarians and vorcha, explaining about the utopia to come. There were books for children, combining popular stories and legends from various cultures with the cult's philosophy. A quick extranet search had shown that some of these books were top sellers on the Citadel, which had been pretty disturbing for Tali and the others. From there, they had searched for sites that used the same key words as the articles and had found - not surprisingly given the number of decrypted files - quite a few sites devoted to promoting the cult's ideas in various forms. None of the information they found, though, mentioned the genetic experiments, and the "retraining of the mind" was couched in such vague terms that it would be next to impossible for anyone to think of it as brainwashing without seeing the decrypted files.

"Let's see if we can come up with anything else in the next hour," Tali said, "and then I'll contact Garrus and let him know what we've got."

 

"What a bunch of fucking bullshit," Shepard grumbled as she flopped down by her locker. She had been a fool to think that the Council was going to help her. They were always so busy covering their asses and acting superior that there was no chance for them to even really listen to what she was saying.

Garrus walked over from Med Bay where he had been talking to Tali. "So, what do you say we take Wrex, Mattocks, and all the munitions we can carry and go commandeer ourselves a ship? We can save the Council's worthless asses without their help."

Shepard laughed. How could she not? Fuck, she could totally see the four of them and some big-ass guns heading out to take over a ship. She was a Spectre, right? It wasn't her way, though. "I tried appealing, but they wouldn't budge," she said.

"Come on," Garrus said. "You're not going to give up, are you?" He was teasing her. He knew she wouldn't give up.

"Of course, not. I'm just not quite ready to become Shepard the Pirate. If I still haven't come up with something in four hours, though, ask me again."

Garrus chuckled. Shepard loved hearing him laugh. He offered her a hand. She took it and was pulled up into his arms. Garrus had twisted a little so that she wasn't speared on his keel, which she greatly appreciated. He was so thoughtful, so tender. Garrus slid off his visor, and Shepard looked up into his blue eyes. They were lighter than his colony markings, which she reached up and traced with her fingers. Garrus caught her hand and drew it to his mouth. He nuzzled the inside of her wrist and then flicked his tongue out to taste her. He growled, and Shepard moaned. She pressed her body against his and pulled his mouth toward hers.

"Sorry to interrupt, Commander," Joker said, his voice ringing in the empty room. "Got a message from Captain Anderson."

"Let's hear it," Shepard said, pulling back from Garrus and looking up at the speaker.

"The captain said to meet him at Flux. That club down in the Wards," Joker said.

"You could still skip out and become a pirate," Garrus said.

"Let's see what Anderson has to say first," Shepard replied.

"I'm going to stop by C-Sec. I've got a lead on the cult that I want to follow up. I'll meet you at Flux," Garrus said.

Shepard smiled. "See you there."

 

The trip to Flux sucked. First, Conrad Verner wanted her to "sign him up" as a Spectre, and then the Terra Firma candidate cornered her. Shepard was obviously never going to vote for Terra Firma, and even having to be around that xenophobic guy made her skin crawl. The counter protestors were actually pretty clever with some of their slogans, though, which had at least given her a laugh.

Flux was significantly less seedy than Chora's Den, with a noticeably smaller amount of asari ass hanging out. It was another small blessing. Shepard found Anderson easily, which was good, because she had about 15 seconds of remaining patience. As soon as she sat down, Anderson got right to business.

"I'm glad you came, Shepard. I heard what happened," he said.

Shepard tried not to get too upset, as they were in public. However, she couldn't keep the bitterness out of her voice when she said, "They pulled me off the mission. Just like when they forced you to give up the Normandy."

"I know," Anderson said. "I'm sorry. I wanted to warn you, but there was no way to get a message to you before you docked."

That didn't make any sense, and Shepard went completely still for a moment. The decision to wait Saren out probably had been made soon after Shepard had made her report to the Council. Anderson would have had enough time, unless there was some reason why.... Shepard thought about what Anderson had said. _There was no way to get a message to you._ Either he had been physically unable to get to a terminal, or he hadn't been able to send a message safely. Tapping all the communication buoys in the galaxy seemed nearly impossible, which meant that either there wasn't a clean terminal on the Citadel - also unlikely - or the Normandy's communications were compromised. If Anderson wasn't going to talk about it here, then Shepard knew that there was a reason. She would have Garrus and Tali check the ship for bugs.

Anderson continued. "I know you're pissed off right now, but you can't give up. They all think this is over, but we both know it's not. You have to go to Ilos. You have to stop Saren from using the Conduit!"

Of course, she wasn't planning on giving up. However, getting to Ilos was going to be a problem. "There's only one ship that can get me into the Terminus Systems undetected, and she's grounded."

"Citadel Control's locked out all the Normandy's systems. But if we override the ambassador's orders, we can get them to bring the Normandy back online," Anderson said with a conspiratorial edge to his voice. "You can be in the Terminus Systems before anyone even knows you're gone."

That was piracy. It seemed that Garrus wasn't the only one with that idea. Anderson's version just saved them having to pack. "If we steal the Normandy, you're the one left holding the bag," Shepard said.

"And if Saren finds the Conduit, life as we know it is over. The Reapers will destroy us. Humans, asari, everybody! You're the only one who can stop him, Shepard. So I'll do whatever it takes to get you on the Normandy and off this station."

"Stealing the Normandy is mutiny... or maybe piracy. What if the crew won't help me?" Shepard asked.

Anderson had all the answers. "The Normandy's your ship now, Commander. Her crew will follow you to the ends of the galaxy. We both know that."

They ended up talking about the specifics of unlocking the Normandy for a while and eventually settled on using the terminal in Udina's office. It was definitely safer for Anderson. And that was it. She and her former captain had just settled on how they would violate the orders of the Council and their ambassador to steal the Normandy. When she had lectured Garrus on following rules and doing things right, Shepard hadn't expected that she would be living so far outside the rules so soon.

As she stood up, Shepard noticed Garrus waiting for her at the bar. "Well," she said, as they headed out the door, "we decided to go with your plan. Anderson is going to end the lockdown from Udina's office, and we are going to steal the Normandy. Clearly, you are a bad role model for us humans, corrupting our weak morals."

Garrus flared his mandibles in a smile and said, "While you and Anderson were planning your heist, I was corrupting a member of C-Sec. He should get back to me really soon with the information on the money behind this cult. They are publishing books and holding retreats. They have bank accounts somewhere, and when we find them, we find the ones in charge."

"Good! Thanks, Garrus! Let's get to the Normandy, so we can get to the ass-kicking."

 

The decontamination always was boring, but as they waited to reboard the Normandy, Shepard thought it took an eternity. When they finally got inside, she filled Joker in. Then, she, Joker, and Garrus waited. Joker had the ship ready almost immediately. They just needed the lockdown to be lifted. There was just a little red light on one panel, but as long as it was red, that light meant that Anderson hadn't succeeded. Shepard controlled her breathing. In and out. In and out. Breathe with the diaphragm. In and out. Then, the light changed, and before she even had time to say anything, Joker was executing the plan.

"Alright, Joker! Go!" Shepard said and then headed back to the galaxy map to plot a course to Ilos. Finally! Finally, they were going to end this. Shepard smiled grimly as she activated the map. She would still have some time before they got to the Mu Relay and Ilos, but this was the beginning of the end for sure.

 

Garrus felt a trembling in his gizzard as he approached the door to Shepard's quarters. She had already made her rounds, speaking to everyone on the ship. Now, all that was left was to wait. There had been some concern about a tap in the Normandy's comm system, but he had checked it out and found nothing. As she walked to the elevator after visiting Tali, Shepard had said, "I have some time. If you want, you could meet me in my quarters." After that, he handed off the project to Tali, in case she could come up with something he couldn't. Wouldn't be the first time.

Shepard had blushed when she invited him to her quarters, and Garrus was pretty sure that she wasn't thinking about watching "Fleet and Flotilla". Of course, he wanted to spend time with her... intimate time. Garrus had been trying to keep his mind off the idea of sex with Shepard for quite a while now. The kissing and flirting had made that task significantly more difficult. Since there was also almost no privacy on the Normandy, Garrus hadn't been able to distract himself with his hand from the desire building inside him. He wanted her, and he hoped this invitation meant she wanted him.

The door to Shepard's quarters slid open when Garrus approached. Inside, surprisingly, he saw Alenko. A very brief surge of jealousy was followed by confusion. Was Shepard going to really end up spending the few hours left before they hit the Mu Relay arguing with Alenko? Garrus's mandibles clamped to his face. However, Alenko looked at him calmly and said, "Hello, Garrus."

The lieutenant looked back to Shepard and said, "Anyway, I just wanted to apologize. I wasn't fair to you. Ash's death hit me really hard. I shouldn't have taken it out on you, though."

"I appreciate that, Kaidan," Shepard said. "I wasn't offended, though. I understood what you were going through."

"It doesn't make it right. Anyway, I'll get out of your hair. I'm happy for the two of you." Kaidan turned to Garrus and said, "Take care of her."

Alenko smiled in a way that seemed off to Garrus. It seemed sad. The rest of his demeanor certainly seemed like he was in mourning. Then, Alenko left. For a moment, there was silence in the room between Garrus and Shepard.

"Kaidan was upset," Shepard said. "Probably that was obvious." Shepard ran her hand over her face. "I was going to rehearse this... or something, but I had a report to send to Hackett and then Kaidan came in.... Look, I suck at relationships. And I'm always going to be focused on work. If you are willing to put up with that, then I want to try... I don't know. I want more with you. The kissing was great, but I want more. Well, I mean, sex... obviously, but also a real relationship. With feelings. Do I sound like an idiot? Are you going to leave?"

Nothing reminded Garrus of his role as Shepard's mate like watching her try to deal with her own feelings. She was such a strong, capable woman. Why was she so sure that she wasn't of value as a mate? Garrus felt a surge of possessiveness and a desire to punch whoever had made her feel so unworthy. Instead, he pulled her to his side, stroking her hair and running his fingers over her cheek.

"Yes," Garrus said, "you sound like an idiot. Of course, I'm not leaving. And I also want a real relationship with sex and kissing and feelings. No matter what, I'll be here for you."

Instead of giving Shepard more time to get lost in her doubts, he gently tilted her chin up and bent down to kiss her. This desire for a relationship was a good sign. He still wasn't going to distract Shepard now by telling her about how he had - like a fool - already bonded with her, but he would as soon as they dealt with Saren. For now, he was going to show her that he cared for her and wanted her.

Shepard had apparently gotten over her anxiety, because she had focused on trying to remove his armor. The clasps on turian armor weren't intended for human fingers, and she struggled with them. Garrus removed his gloves - which earned him a smile from Shepard, and then clicked open the clasps with a talon.

"Mmmm...." Shepard said, "that is what I wanted."

She opened Garrus's undersuit and ran her hands over the plates of his chest. Her hands felt unusual and cool but still wonderful. He could feel his pelvic plates start to loosen. She was so beautiful, so powerful and yet delicate.

Shepard looked up at him, suddenly confused, and then stepped back slightly, her eyes wide. Her pulse also spiked, and all the hairs on her arms stood up. She hadn't taken her hands from his chest, though.

"What?" Garrus asked, concerned. She couldn't have just noticed that he wasn't human.

"That look you gave me. Damn! It was hot and predatory and a little scary and ... hot. What were you thinking?"

Garrus rumbled. "I was thinking that I was going to run out of patience trying to take your uniform off and would probably end up shredding it with my talons."

Shepard laughed, even as she started to unzip the uniform. "Okay, so definitely hot." She stripped off her jacket, revealing a thin black tank top underneath. Shepard said, gesturing at a bag on the table in the center of the room, "Before I forget, I got extra antihistamines and a sex barrier protection gel. The antihistamines in the blue box are for turians."

"Wait," Garrus said. "On the Citadel, between arguing with the Council and planning with Anderson how you would steal the Normandy, you had time to buy condoms?"

"A girl has to have priorities," Shepard said. "Plus, the FAQ that I found on the extranet on how to have sex with a turian said that you have to be really careful about irritation from fluids. Some people have no problems, but I didn't want to get all itchy right when I was fighting Saren."

Garrus laughed. Of course, Shepard would have read the FAQ. "Come here," he said. Garrus curled his fingers carefully under the edge of Shepard's tank top and pulled it up over her head. He looked at her bra quizzically. Shepard laughed and took it off.

"It keeps my breasts from moving around," she said.

"Breasts?" Garrus said, pointing at her chest. He should have done more research. Why hadn't he done more research?

"Yes. They are for feeding babies and sometimes attracting a mate. And they are sensitive." Shepard blushed a little as she said this, which Garrus took as his cue to investigate them. He didn't want to just grab, though, so he started by kissing the crown of Shepard's head. He worked his way down to her ear, nibbling gently with his mouth plates and brushing her cheek with his mandibles. As Garrus worked his way down to her neck, it became increasingly difficult to reach her. He was of average height for a turian, and Shepard seemed only slightly shorter than an average human female. However, turians were noticeably taller than humans, which meant that Garrus was more than half a meter taller than Shepard. Crouching or kneeling wasn't necessarily going to get him to the correct height, so he decided to fix the problem another way.

Garrus crouched down for a moment and wrapped his arms around Shepard's hips, then he lifted, bringing her up to a much more comfortable height. Shepard laughed and wrapped her legs around his waist. She wasn't heavy, but when she leaned over backward to touch the floor, Garrus nearly lost his balance. Shepard came up laughing, but Garrus found that the display of flexibility had burned away much of his self-control. His plates were definitely spreading. He turned them around and pressed Shepard against the wall, perhaps a little more forcefully than necessary. However, when she said, "Mmm.... Garrus....", he took it as a signal that she was not unhappy with him.

Garrus resumed his exploration of Shepard's body, running his tongue over the sensitive area where her neck met her shoulder. It was a popular place for bond marks, and Garrus couldn't resist dragging his teeth very lightly over her skin there. Shepard shivered and tightened her legs around his waist. Garrus growled instinctively in response. He lifted her a little higher and ran his tongue over Shepard's breast, brushing over the raised peak in the middle. Shepard moaned deeply and brought her hands up to his fringe. Garrus teased the peak with gentle teeth and tongue, before moving to the other. He wrapped his tongue around the hard little peak and pulled. Shepard squeaked. He decided to find out what other noises he could get her to produce by playing with her breasts and spent some very enjoyable time finding out.

Shepard was writhing in his arms, moaning and grinding the warmth between her legs against him. His mate wanted him. He could smell how her scent had changed. He remembered that scent from when they had scandalized C-Sec and whispered in her ear, "You smell so good. I... I'm not going to be able to hold back much longer. With your legs around my waist, grinding against me like that, I can't help think of what it will be like to be inside you. Is that what you want? Do you want to feel me inside you?"

Shepard moaned again and said, "Fuck, yes! Please, Garrus, fuck me!"

The flood of desire that roared through him was echoed by the deep growl that rolled from his chest. Garrus moved to deal with Shepard's pants with his talons, but she pushed him back a little and loosened the grip with her thighs.

"Let me undress," she said, her voice husky and low.

Garrus put Shepard down and removed the rest of his own clothing. His cock had already started to emerge from behind his plates, and the sight of Shepard, naked and sweaty, was more than enough to bring it out fully. Shepard's eyes were drawn to it, and if he hadn't been so completely overwhelmed by the desire to slam her against the wall and bury himself in her, Garrus would have been amused. As it was, he could barely focus on anything besides her scent, her body. He turned around and picked up the bag from the table, roughly shaking the contents out. A bottle fell out and dropped to the floor. Suddenly, Shepard was in front of him, picking it up.

"Can I put this on you?" she asked.

His head emptied of language, and Garrus could only gesture for her to continue. His cock was throbbing, and tingling waves of desire coursed through his body, building, building....

Shepard squeezed some of the gel into her hand and used it to rub over the tip of Garrus's cock. He moaned and forced himself not to thrust into her hand. His legs no longer wanted to support him, and Garrus put out a hand to steady himself on the table. The gel was cool but warmed as it mixed with his lubrication to form a barrier. Shepard traced the ridges of his shaft with her gel-slick fingers, and Garrus ground his teeth. He could wait for a few more seconds. A few more. A rhythmic rumble started in his chest. Shepard looked up from her work and smiled, her face and breasts flushed.

That was enough. Shepard looked exquisite, and his body cried out for him to join with his mate. He picked her up and turned to press her against the wall again. She said something about a bed, maybe, but Garrus didn't really hear it. He heard an echo of his mate begging him to fuck her. Shepard wrapped her thighs around his waist again, and Garrus used a hand to rub his cock between her legs. She leaned back against the wall, her eyes closed, her mouth open just enough to see the tip of her tongue. Garrus had done enough research to know that this was definitely where human females' genitals were located, and everyone knew that this was how to screw an asari. He hoped this information would be enough to satisfy her. He watched Shepard carefully as he dragged his cock back and forth against her - so warm and wet - thrusting gently when he reached her entrance.

"Oh, fuck, Garrus," Shepard moaned. "You feel so good, but go slow. I've never had anything so large inside me...."

Garrus swallowed. He pushed gently, her body giving way. As her tightness enveloped him, he paused, both to let her adjust and to give himself a moment to breathe. Shepard's scent, the dampness of her body under his hands, the warmth inside her... it nearly overwhelmed his senses. He wanted to separate out each sensation and savor it, but his desire - pounding in his blood - pushed him to move. He reached out and cupped Shepard's breast. He circled the peak with the smooth back of a talon. Shepard moved his hand down to the area right by her entrance, showing him how to touch her. Then, she shifted her hips against him, using gravity to pull her down onto his cock. Garrus held himself as still as he could manage, moving just his talon, not even breathing for fear that he would lose control and miss out on this sweet torture. His lungs started to burn, and Garrus took a breath. As he blew it out, he moved his other hand, which had been holding Shepard's weight, so that she was supported entirely by the wall and her legs around his waist. He brought his hand up to her other breast and teased, running the point of his talon over her skin so gently that it left only the slightest indentation. He wanted so much to please her.

Shepard moaned again and pulled herself up so that her hands held his cowl. This put much more of her weight in her legs, and she pushed herself off him, letting his cock slide out of her, before she lowered herself back down. A few more times, and Garrus was entirely inside her. Shepard looked up at him, her eyes dark. Garrus shook from the effort of controlling his desire.

"Garrus," Shepard said, so low that he almost couldn't hear her, "I'm ready. I don't want you to be gentle. I want you to fuck me. Like a turian."

Only a fool doubted Shepard. If she said she wanted turian sex - all teeth and talons and pounding... pounding - it was what Garrus would give her. He growled and wrapped his hands around her hips. He thrust into her. Hard. Shepard's head dropped back against the wall with a thud, but she was grinding against him, so he went back to focusing on a rhythm. He filled her again and again. Her sex squeezed him so tightly that each thrust seemed to be opening her for the first time. Shepard shifted after a time, and instead of just letting him fuck her, she started to ride him. Garrus fought with her for control, dominance. His mate was so turian. She clawed at his chest, and he snarled and dug his talons into her hips until he smelled the tang of human blood. Shepard became more wild, grinding against him, rubbing her breasts and the front of her warm entrance against his plates.

Her scent was overpowering, so wet and full of her pheromones. Garrus pounded into her. Shepard's body started to flutter around his cock, and she said through gritted teeth, "I'm so close. Garrus. Harder. More. I'm... so close."

Garrus picked up his pace. He wasn't going to last much longer now. He bent down to her neck, touching just the points of his teeth to her skin as he stroked her with his tongue. He wanted to mark her, but somewhere in the back of his mind, behind Shepard's moans and his throbbing desire, he knew that this wasn't the right time. He pulled back from her neck and whispered in her ear, "I won't mark you now, but some day... some day I'll bite down into your sensitive skin and leave my mark. I'll taste your blood, and you will feel my claim on you. Tell me you want it."

"Yes, Garrus!" Shepard screamed, as her body clenched around him. She thrashed, moaning, grinding against him, and then she went completely rigid, her back arching, and the feeling of her body throbbing around his shaft was too much. Garrus came with a roar. Next time, his body told him as he surged into her again and again, he would fill her with his seed. He would taste her blood on his teeth.

As his orgasm slowly subsided, Garrus pulled back from Shepard, sated, happy, and a little embarrassed by the things he had said to her. Shepard, though, looked up at him with a soft smile. She cupped the side of his face and just looked at him. Garrus leaned down and kissed her.

The brief click of a comm channel opening tore their attention from the kiss, and Joker's voice rang in the room. "Five minutes ETA to the Mu Relay."

That was it. Their time alone was over. Shepard unwound her legs from his waist, and Garrus gently set her down. She wobbled for a moment, before righting herself and beginning the search for her clothes. Garrus quickly cleaned himself up and then turned to where Shepard was using an old shirt to wipe herself down. "Shepard, whatever happens on Ilos, I just wanted to tell you how much I...." Garrus paused. He wanted to confess his love, but instead, he opted for something a little less extreme. A turian would have already understood his feelings from his body language, his subvocals, and what he had said about claiming her, but Garrus wasn't sure that Shepard understood. He would tell her later. Instead, he said, "I want to tell you how much you mean to me. You are so amazing. Don't ever let anyone make you feel like you are anything less."

As she pulled on her clothing, she said, "It is going to be hard letting you go when this mission is over." Then, she was putting on her boots, fastening all the closures, and heading out the door. Just as the door started to slide shut, she said over her shoulder, "Meet me on the bridge in 5, Vakarian."

>   
>  Admiral Hackett:
> 
> Sir, I am writing in reference to a matter we discussed earlier and agreed to put aside until we had more information. More information has been acquired, and I am attaching a file (one time encryption key: Alpha8-Sierra-November-Zulu) that contains everything we know at present. As I'm sure you have been informed, I will be heading into battle shortly. If we don't make it back, sir, please follow up on this. These people may seem well-meaning, but they are killers.
> 
> It has been a pleasure serving with you.
> 
> \- Commander Jane Shepard

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who has left kudos and comments. I _really_ appreciate them. Also, I apologize for rehashing so much of the dialogue from the game in this chapter. I just felt that there were parts I couldn't skip over and have the story still make sense.


	21. Turning On The Charm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shepard and the crew of the Normandy have taken down Saren. Now, they just need to deal with the cultists.

Liara sat on a bench looking out over the lake on the Citadel's Presidium. Only a week ago, she had been in the Mako when it had ground to a stop after having been launched out of the Conduit, sliding across the walkway just a few meters away from where she sat now, but almost no signs of the damage remained. Part of her was still in shock. She had actually been on Ilos! It was hard to believe how much had happened since Shepard had freed her from that prothean security system on Therum. It felt like a lifetime ago.

"Mind if I join you?"

Liara looked away from the lake to see Commander Shepard waiting beside the bench.

"Of course, Commander," Liara said. "I thought you would still be busy with the Council."

"It turns out that they wanted me to choose the human councilor. I am a soldier! I am qualified to tell you the best way to kill a geth. I am not a substitute for the democratic process!" Shepard huffed out a breath. "Maybe this means that they value my opinion now."

Liara smiled.

"But that isn't what I wanted to talk about," Shepard said. "I was wondering what your plans are. The Normandy still needs to take down that cult, and if you want to be there with us, I'd be glad for your help."

"Oh! Shepard!" Liara said with a cry. It was so gratifying to have her participation recognized and valued. Obviously, Liara wanted to go back to Ilos to survey the ruins there, and she had, of course, kept detailed records of all the prothean sites Shepard and the Normandy had discovered. Those needed to be surveyed, as well. She could spend her entire career on just that list, and it would be more than most prothean researchers ever did. Still, she wasn't going to turn down Shepard's offer. In the six months that she'd been on the Normandy, she had learned so much. Who knew what they would find next! "Thank you so much! I would be delighted to go with you!"

Shepard smiled, and while Liara still wasn't an expert at reading human expressions, she felt sure that Shepard was happy.

 

Back on the Citadel. Wrex smirked slightly, as regret tugged at him. It hadn't been that long since Shepard had picked him up in C-Sec. They had kicked a lot of ass, seen a lot of shit, and now he was back where he started. Huh.

Wrex turned at the sound of boots on the docking ramp. It was Mattocks. The kid came to visit him so often in the hold that Wrex recognized the sound of his footsteps. A lot of times, they didn't even talk, just hung out, cleaning their weapons.

"Mattocks," Wrex said.

Mattocks held out his hand, and Wrex shook it roughly. Damned if he wasn't going to miss this crew, or at least Shepard, Mattocks, and a few of the others. Shepard had obviously gotten to him, made him all sentimental. She was such a softie. Still, she was nearly krogan in her desire to take out anyone who needed it, even if she was fucking a turian. Wrex hoped he would get to see them again, but this idea of helping the krogan people was probably going to get him killed. If it didn't, well, maybe he would invite Mattocks to visit. The kid was interested in non-human cultures. Tuchanka had a lot of history, if you were willing to look past the fallout and thresher maws.

"Good luck," Mattocks said. Wrex nodded. Maybe he'd see the kid again. He turned and headed to the elevator.

 

"Hey, Commander!" Joker called from the cockpit, as Shepard boarded the Normandy. "Wrex just left. Pretty soon, it is going to be just me and you."

"You know that you're all I really need, Joker," Shepard said. "Well, you, some chocolate, and hot turian sex when I visit the Citadel."

Joker made a gagging sound, and Shepard headed back to the CIC. Mission accomplished! She loved when she could be the one making him uncomfortable, instead of the other way around. Joker was right, though. Soon, they would be down to just the Alliance crew. Even though Liara, Tali, and Garrus were staying on to take down the cult, they would be leaving when it was over. It was bittersweet. This mission had definitely been a huge change for her. Shepard usually didn't make these kinds of close friends. How many assignments had she left with no qualms whatsoever? This time, she was going to miss so many people. She shook her head at her thoughts. Having people who you missed was a good thing. As much as being away from Garrus was going to hurt, she wouldn't have traded their confusing, sweet, sexy relationship for anything.

Shepard walked up the steps to the galaxy map. Garrus's contact had said that the payments had been transferred to a company on Intai'sei. She couldn't help but laugh when she saw that. She had won a little retirement home on Intai'sei from Admiral Ahern after beating his simulation on Pinnacle Station. Maybe now, she'd have a chance to actually see it. Hell, they should have a party. Shepard set a course for the Phoenix System in Argos Rho. As much as she was going to miss the friends she had made on this mission, Shepard was really looking forward to putting an end to this cult. That was some ass kicking that was long overdue.

 

The murderous cult was getting money through a company in the city of Thoreau Mesa on Intai'sei. Despite all the problems Garrus had had with C-Sec, there were a lot of great detectives there. Laetphia's new partner was apparently a genius at following a paper trail and untangling false leads. She had gotten them a location. Now, it was up to Shepard's team to find out exactly what was going on.

While there were hangars in Thoreau Mesa that could have handled the Normandy, Shepard had felt that the ship would be far too recognizable, so she had Joker drop the squad - Shepard, Garrus, and Mattocks - in the Mako outside of town. Of course, a rover being dropped in was noticeable too, as it turned out. The main reason was because the city wasn't really much of a city, in Garrus's opinion. At first, it appeared to be the wreck of a massive freighter that had spilled shipping containers in a heap rising out of the flat, red plain. Then, Garrus noticed that they were prefab housing units more or less stacked and connected by flexible walking tubes, welded panels, and whatever else the inhabitants could scrounge up, it seemed. The Alliance had only settled the planet twenty years before and apparently had not seen fit to plan for expansion or upkeep.

As they got closer, Garrus noticed guard towers, turrets, and rovers of various types parked haphazardly around an airlock. A little distance away from the entrance were some lights placed in large squares on the ground. Evidently, those were the hangars. Joker would have been pissed. Taking the Mako was another good call by Shepard.

"You think they're in there?" Shepard asked Garrus, gesturing to the mountain of prefabs.

Garrus shrugged. "How are we even going to know? Look at that place! Finding anything in there is going to be complicated. Unless they are glowing blue like a bunch of husks. In that case, it should be pretty easy."

Mattocks, seated in the back of the Mako, leaned forward and said, "I grew up on a mining station near Jupiter. There were probably about three thousand people living there. You said there are about 20,000 here?" Shepard nodded. "So, it's bigger, but I can probably navigate. We're going to stand out, though. My armor alone probably cost more than one of these guys will make in ten years on a wind farm."

"Well, it's too late to change, so let's just try to roll with it," Shepard said.

Mattocks nodded, put on his breathing mask, and climbed out of the Mako. Shepard and Vakarian followed. Garrus put his mask on, even though the atmosphere was breathable. It wasn't even really that much hotter than Palavin, although it was really dry. Still, he figured that he should follow Mattocks's example, since the corporal was as close as they had to a guide. Mattocks walked up to one of the guard towers and nodded at the guy who was manning the station by the airlock.

The guard said, "There's a fee to park your rover... at least, if you want the guards to watch it."

The guard was a short human with brown hair that had been turned almost to the color of the planet by all the dust caked in his hair. He wore a breath mask and goggles. His exposed skin had taken on a strange pattern from the dust and salt of his perspiration. It looked almost like dry salarian skin. Mattocks just nodded and handed the guard a credit stick, which the guard took, slid into a reader, and then passed back.

"Normally, I'd give you a spiel about weapons, but with all the firepower you are packing, I'm guessing that you are ... what mercs? Is he," the guard said, gesturing at Garrus, "a Spectre?"

"No," Mattocks said, gesturing to Shepard, "but she is. Let me introduce Commander Shepard of the Alliance."

The guard pulled his goggles and mask off. His eyes were huge, and he leaned forward, as if to get a better view. He wiped his hand on his pant leg and held it out to Shepard. She removed her mask and shook the guard's hand.

"Oh, my God! I can't believe.... On our little shithole planet.... Wow!"

"It is nice to meet you...."

"Dwayne," the guard said.

"It's nice to meet you, Dwayne."

Garrus didn't realize that a human could smile so widely. It actually looked painful. 

The guard seemed lost in the moment, still shaking Shepard's hand, so Mattocks softly said, "Commander Shepard is looking for information on a business that might be fronted here. Do you have any idea where she could find out something like that?"

Dwayne seemed to come back to himself slightly and, releasing Shepard's hand, he said, "Oh, uh, well, I can give you a map. We have them for traders. It will get you to the central bazaar. You should be able to find almost anything there."

Shepard smiled and said, "Thank you, Dwayne."

While Garrus knew that this was her "Commander Shepard" persona, nonetheless, he was impressed once again by how compelling she was. Dwayne transferred the map to their omnitools and watched them as they headed inside. Garrus wondered if the guard would sign up for the Alliance immediately or if he would wait until the end of his shift.

Mattocks took off his breather mask when they entered Thoreau Mesa, and Garrus echoed his actions but immediately regretted it. Inside the city, it was slightly cooler and damper than outside, but the smell of humans living in close quarters with poor sanitation was overpowering. Garrus had spent a lot of time on a fairly small ship with humans, and he thought he knew what they smelled like. He had certainly noticed that they smelled more strongly after returning from a mission - as did he, for that matter. However, he had no idea that they could smell so horrible. Mattocks didn't seem to notice it. Shepard coughed once, shot a brief, uncomfortable glance at Garrus, and then went back to looking like Commander Shepard. Garrus knew that no one here would be able to tell how disgusted he was. He just needed to keep from gagging. Oh, the things he did for the mission....

To take his mind off the smell, Garrus checked out the map that Dwayne had given them. It did seem to show some kind of a path to a large, central area. However, the map was made up of overlapping lines in five different colors. It looked vaguely like a multilevel circuit diagram had been compressed into one layer. Mattocks brought up his version of the map and said, "We're just going to follow this line right to the bazaar."

Shepard said, "Mattocks, this isn't like any kind of map I've seen before. Would you mind interpreting it for me?"

Mattocks shook his head. "Sorry, ma'am. I forgot.... There is kind of a convention for humans living in... well, I call it a "WLE" - "warren-like environment". Each level is denoted by a specific color. The line changes color as your path moves between levels. We could have a multilevel interface, but when you change levels really often that can be cumbersome. So, the map with all the levels are shown in the same layer. You just need to filter out the levels you aren't interested in at the moment."

Garrus looked at the huge green sign that read "GREEN" on the wall and said, "I'm guessing we're on Green level."

Mattocks smiled briefly and said, "Yes, sir. We'll proceed down this corridor and then move to Blue level."

Shepard and Vakarian followed Mattocks through the passages. The sound of movement could be heard all around them, even though they only passed a dozen people. The path went up and down, moving through several different levels, twisting and turning, before they finally reached a hatch door. It opened smoothly into a huge market area. The floor here was Intai'sei's red dirt, and the walls rose up into the darkness. All the lighting was on the first level, which was packed with stalls and booths. Some were a couple of plastic packing crates bolted together. Some were elaborate. From the entrance, Garrus could see a few weapons dealers, at least five shops selling replacement parts for wind farms, and another dozen stands selling food. Unlike the corridors, the bazaar was fairly crowded, and Garrus was surprised to see a few Asari, a turian, and a couple of krogan in the crowd. People turned to watch them as they entered, but it seemed to be more a typical sizing up of any newcomer rather than a specific interest in their group.

While this was where they were supposed to be heading, Garrus wasn't exactly sure how they were supposed to find anything. Shepard was the first to spot a guard, and she signaled the squad to follow her. The guard was a young guy with light hair and green eyes who Garrus guessed was probably just starting out walking a beat. He pointed them in the direction of a central building that was slightly above the level of the stalls. They headed that way, and when they finally broke through the mob, they were able to see that it had "Security" stenciled on the side in flaking blue paint.

Shepard led them up the metal stairs to the security office. Inside, it was exactly as Garrus expected. A harried looking human in uniform with a pistol on his hip sat behind a long counter, working at a terminal and smoking. Across from the counter was a bench. Behind him were a couple of desks. If you scaled it up, you could find something very similar in C-Sec. The office smelled of cigarette smoke, which mixed with the smell of the bazaar in an unpleasant way.

"Yeah? What can I do you for?" the man behind the counter asked, stubbing out his cigarette and looking disinterestedly from him to Shepard to Mattocks. His mouth turned down as he took in their weapons and armor. His pulse picked up, and he shifted to a posture that showed he was planning on defending his territory. Garrus may not have been fluent in human expressions, but he knew cop body language. This cop thought they were going to start trouble, probably by throwing their weight around.

Garrus gave Shepard a little sign that showed he wanted to take the lead, and she gave him a fraction of a nod. He said, "My name is Garrus Vakarian. I work with C-Sec. I'm not here to get in your way. I'm just following up a lead on a case - a company that supposedly is headquartered here is involved in some shady dealings. I'm guessing that it is just a front and that they have someone here moving money around for them. If you could point me in the right direction, I'll get the information I need and get out of your way."

The man behind the counter looked at Shepard and Mattocks and said, "You two are C-Sec?"

"No, sir," Shepard said. "We're Alliance. I'm Commander Shepard, and this is Corporal Mattocks."

Unlike the guard at the gate, this guy wasn't going to show that he was impressed. Still, Garrus noticed how his posture changed. He wanted to keep his position of power in the situation, but he was very conscious that Shepard was a hero. Luckily, Shepard wasn't interested in preening, which kept the situation more or less friendly.

The man nodded and said, "I'm Officer Carline." They all shook hands. "Some kind of money funneling operation, you say? We don't have a lot of 'financial industry' around here. If anyone is involved in something like that, it is probably Marty the Twig. He has a little office back in the boxes." Carline pointed out one of the windows to an area beyond the stalls that was made of small prefabs.

A few more pleasantries were exchanged. Shepard and Garrus both thanked Carline for his help, and then they headed back out into the bazaar. After the office's cigarette smoke, the market seemed slightly more pleasant. Garrus's eyes adjusted quickly to the dark alleys between booths, and it was more the overpowering scent of strong spices that he noticed instead of the human smell. They were getting a better feel for maneuvering through the bazaar, and so as they made their way toward the office that Carline had indicated, Garrus noticed that Shepard's posture was more relaxed, and he was more able to observe his surroundings.

The majority of booths that bordered the office area were closed, and a short concrete block wall divided the areas. Marty the Twig didn't appear to be trying to hide, though, as a sign attached to the side of one of the prefabs read: "Martin Tun, business management and consulting".

Shepard tried the door, which opened smoothly. For a moment, Garrus felt an uncomfortable foreboding in his gizzard that they were going to walk in to find Marty lying in a pool of his own blood. However, the door opened, and there was a man who could only have been Marty the Twig. He was nearly as tall as a turian and as thin as a husk. He was hunched over, as though he had spent years trying to avoid hitting his head on things, which perhaps he had. He had turned when the door opened from where he had been organizing boxes and stepped toward Shepard with a slight smile and an extended hand.

"I'm Martin Tun," he said, "and you don't look like prospectors. How can I help you?"

His voice was higher pitched than Garrus would have expected for someone of Marty's size, but he seemed open and helpful, certainly an image he had worked on. Shepard gave Garrus a sign that he should take the lead, so he began a fairly standard interview.

"My name is Garrus Vakarian, and I'm an investigator from C-Sec on the Citadel. I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

Marty nodded. "Shoot," he said.

Garrus's translator gave him the obvious meaning of the word, but in this context, it was unhelpful. He flicked a glance at Shepard, who indicated that he should go ahead with his questions. "Okay. First, can you give us a little information about your business? What exactly do you do here?"

"I want you to know," Marty said, "that I run a legal business here. A lot of small corporations located outside the major human settlements want to have someone honest manage their assets while they are out doing whatever it is they do. My clients are usually prospectors, without a permanent address. I get their mail and packages, pay their bills if they have any money in the bank, handle any paperwork that they need done, store their valuables, set up trades and sales, and even handle their wills when they die. I'm bonded and licensed, and I have a list of clients as long as my arm that will give me good references. If you are C-Sec, then you know as well as I do that you don't have jurisdiction here. I'm not trying to cause you trouble, but without the proper paperwork, I can't give you any information about my clients. I have a legal responsibility to protect their privacy."

That was true, of course. Criminals were always hiding behind legal loopholes like that. On the other hand, Garrus knew that this guy could lose his licensing if he gave out information to someone without a warrant. Luckily, that wasn't an issue.

Shepard smiled at Martin and said, "We appreciate that. However, it won't be a concern here. I'm Commander Shepard, and as a Council Spectre, I don't require a warrant."

Martin blanched a little, from fear or ... well, probably it was fear, Garrus thought, but it could be because he felt guilty, or it could just have been because Spectres acted with no oversight. Look how much effort they had spent trying to stop Saren when he turned on the Council.

"Of course, Commander Shepard. One moment. I have a little biometric scanner here, in this drawer...."

The man was clearly terrified that his actions were going to be misconstrued as going for a weapon, but Mattocks had positioned himself with a clear view of the desk drawers early on, so Shepard just nodded and said, "That's fine. Your caution is entirely correct."

That seemed to calm Martin down a little, and he slowly opened a drawer and withdrew a little scanner that he put on the desk. The model wasn't one that Garrus recognized, but Shepard seemed to know what to do, as she reached out and put her hand on it. A light on the unit flickered briefly and then shown green. The little screen read, "Spectre status recognized."

"Okay, then," Martin said, looking more relaxed. Garrus guessed that maybe he had been most worried about having to turn down Shepard. "What do you want to know?"

"We're interested in a group that is going by the name 'Unity Publishing'," Shepard said.

"Yes, I manage their accounts," Marin said. "What exactly do you need?"

"Everything. Accounts, descriptions, how to find them...." Shepard replied.

Martin nodded, pulled a datapad out of his desk, and started transferring data to it from his terminal. He had become rigid, though. His movements were jerky. When he finished transferring files, he said, handing the datapad to Shepard, "Here is everything I have. As for where to find them, I have no idea. People come to me because they don't have an address."

Why was Martin suddenly so nervous? Garrus looked at Shepard and shook his head. Shepard handed the datapad to Garrus and turned back to Martin wearing her most professional expression.

"I want you to understand something, Martin," Shepard said. "I can tell that you want to do the right thing. These people - Unity Publishing - they might seem well-meaning, but they have been involved in some very nasty business. Kidnapping, murder. They talk about working together and building a peaceful galactic community, but they brainwash people. I've seen with my own eyes the broken bodies they leave behind. They are dangerous, and they don't care who they hurt. Now, if you have any other information, no matter how inconsequential, it could help me stop them."

Garrus looked up from where he was backing up the datapad to him omnitool to see that Martin had gone pale again. He was staring fixedly at Shepard, though. Then, his mouth tightened, and he nodded. "I suppose I should have known," he said. "I've been lucky, but sometimes a client seems a little off. Anyway, there are always two of them. The guy is about 40, I guess. Dark hair, dark eyes. He looks pretty much average in every way. He is fairly charismatic, although his eyes sometimes give him away. He comes with a teenage girl, who I'm pretty sure isn't his daughter, if you know what I mean. She is kind of beefy, like maybe she's had some military enhancements, but she's still good looking if you don't mind the look that she gives you that says she'll gut you as soon as look at you. I think that they are based in system, since the one time I had to contact them to tell them that a package arrived, they were here the next day. They aren't on planet, though. I talked to one of the guards, and she said that their ship was more like a shuttle. The old kind without artificial gravity."

Martin stopped to think for a minute then continued. "The girl had a breathing mask dangling around her neck last time she came. It wasn't dusty like the ones that someone would have here, but it looked well used. I kind of thought maybe they were space-based."

He stopped again, forehead wrinkled as he tried to think. "I don't know anything else. But if they are as bad as you say, then bless you for doing this. They need to face justice."

Shepard thanked Martin, and that was it. She had managed to get an informant to thank her for getting him to tell her his information. Garrus was beyond impressed, and he already knew how amazing Shepard was. They made their way, with Mattocks's help, back to the Mako, drove outside the settlement, and called the Normandy for a pickup. The whole trip had taken only a couple of hours. C-Sec was never so efficient.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had intended this chapter to get much farther into dealing with the cultists, but when I actually sat down to write it, I found that I had kind of skipped over some of the important investigation. Rather than take a long time to get you a super long chapter, I decided to break it up and get this chapter out to you now. Hopefully, the next chapter won't take too long for me to write. As always, we'll see.


End file.
